INTRODUCTION 
SCIENTIFIC  STUDV 
EDUCATION 


JUDD 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


INTRODUCTION  TO  THE 

SCIENTIFIC    STUDY  OF 

EDUCATION 


BY 


CHARLES  HUBBARD  JUDD 

PROFESSOR    OF   EDUCATION    AND    DIRECTOR   OF  THE   SCHOOL 
OF   EDUCATION   OF   THE    UNIVERSITY   OF   CHICAGO 


GINN  AND  COMPANY 

BOSTON     •     NEW    YORK     •     CHICAGO     •     LONDON 
ATLANTA     •     DALLAS     •     roH'Mlll'S     •     SAN    FRANCISCO 


0  I  7  '18 


COPYRIGHT,  1918,  BY  CHARLES  HUBBARD  JUDD 

ALL  RIGHTS   RESERVED 

218.6 


gtbtnacum 


GINN  ANI>  COMPANY  •  PRO- 
PRIETORS •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


Education 
Library 


PREFACE 

This  book  is  the  result  of  eight  years  of  experimentation. 
In  1909  the  Department  of  Education  of  The  University 
of  Chicago  abandoned  the  practice  of  requiring  courses 
in  the  History  of  Education  and  Psychology  as  introduc- 
tory courses  for  students  preparing  to  become  teachers. 
For  these  courses  it  substituted  one  in  Introduction  to 
Education  and  one  in  Methods  of  Teaching.  This  move 
was  due  to  the  conviction  that  students  need  to  be  intro- 
duced to  the  problems  of  the  school  in  a  direct,  concrete 
way,  and  that  the  first  courses  should  constantly  keep 
in  mind  the  lack  of  perspective  which  characterizes  the 
teacher-in-training. 

In  the  years  that  have  elapsed  since  1909  the  conviction 
has  gained  almost  universal  acceptance  in  normal  schools 
and  colleges  of  education  that  the  History  of  Education  is 
not  a  suitable  introductory  course.  Psychology  has  grown 
in  the  direction  of  a  scientific  discussion  of  methodology, 
and  the  demand  for  a  general  introductory  discussion  of 
educational  problems  from  a  scientific  point  of  view  has 
often  been  expressed  by  teachers  in  normal  schools  and 
colleges.  In  this  period  the  writer  has  had  frequent  op- 
portunity to  try  out  various  methods  of  presenting  such  an 
introductory  course.  The  results  of  this  experience  are 
presented  in  this  volume,  which  is  designed  as  a  textbook 
for  students  in  normal  schools  and  colleges  in  the  first 
stages  of  their  professional  study. 


iv        THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

The  teacher  who  uses  this  book  can  expand  the  course 
to  double  the  length  here  outlined  by  introducing  school- 
room observation  and  supplementary  reading.  The  ques- 
tions and  references  offered  at  the  end  of  each  chapter  and 
the  references  in  the  footnotes  are  intended  to  facilitate 
such  further  work.  A  set  of  questions  is  given  in  the 
Appendix  as  a  guide  to  classroom  observation. 

The  obligations  which  the  author  has  incurred  in  the 
preparation  of  the  book  are  numerous.  Almost  every  mem- 
ber of  the  Department  of  Education  of  The  University  of 
Chicago  has  at  some  time  or  other  given  the  course  to  a 
division  of  students,  and  all  have  contributed  suggestions 
•and  criticisms  with  regard  to  the  organization  of  material. 
Special  obligations  should  be  noted  in  this  connection  to 
Professors  J.  F.  Bobbitt,  S.  C.  Parker,  F.  N.  Freeman, 
H.  O.  Rugg,  and  W.  S.  Gray.  To  Professor  E.  H.  Cam- 
eron the  author  is  under  obligation  for  suggestions  made 
after  reading  the  manuscript.  To  the  authors  and  publishers 
whose  works  have  been  drawn  upon  for  extensive  and  nu- 
merous quotations,  special  thanks  are  due  for  courteous  per- 
mission to  use  their  material.  Finally,  it  is  to  the  students 
who  have  from  year  to  year  passed  through  this  course  that 
the  largest  obligation  should  be  acknowledged  because  of  the 
suggestions  which  their  reactions  have  given  to  the  writer. 

C.  H.  J. 

CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  I.  EXTENDING  THE  PUPIL'S  VIEW  OF 
THE  SCHOOL i 

The  pupil's  view  limited.  Conservatism  in  the  community  as  a  natural 
consequence.  Demand  for  a  broad  scientific  study.  Beginnings  of 
the  science  of  education.  Effectiveness  of  studies  of  retardation. 
A  study  of  high-school  courses.  An  experimental  analysis  of  a  funda- 
mental subject.  A  study  of  the  relation  of  education  to  general 
social  life.  The  scientific  study  of  educational  problems.  Exercises 
and  readings. 

CHAPTER  II.  SCHOOLS  OF  OTHER  COUNTRIES 
AND  OF  OTHER  TIMES 14 

The  comparative  and  historical  methods.  The  American  textbook 
method  of  teaching.  Independence  of  thought  based  on  reading. 
European  schools  caste  schools,  American  schools  truly  public.  In- 
fluence of  European  schools  on  the  educational  system  of  this  coun- 
try. Report  of  the  visiting  committee  of  Taunton  in  1801.  Adoption 
of  the  German  model.  Results  of  the  adoption  of  the  German 
example.  The  reorganization  of  American  schools.  Origin  of  the 
high  school.  Education  of  girls.  Higher  education  free.  American 
public  schools  secular.  The  school  system  and  its  domination  of  the 
teacher.  Exercises  and  readings. 

^CHAPTER  III.    EDUCATION  AS  A  PUBLIC  NECESSITY    32 

The  primitive  attitude  one  of  neglect.  Compulsory  education.  Com- 
pulsion of  communities.  Later  stages  of  compulsory  legislation. 
American  education  to  1850.  Compulsory  attendance.  Obstacles 
to  enforcement  of  compulsory  attendance.  Newer  legislation  recog- 
nizing complexity  of  problems  of  attendance.  Supervision  a  neces- 
sary corollary  to  compulsion.  Higher  education  and  public  control. 
Public  control  adequate  only  when  directed  by  science.  Fiscal 
problem  typical.  Exercises  and  readings. 

CHAPTER  IV.  INVESTING  PUBLIC  MONEY  IN  A 
NEW  GENERATION 46 

The  cost  of  educating  an  individual.  Total  school  expenditures  in 
the  United  States.  Cost  a  determining  consideration  in  school  organi- 
zation. Relation  of  school  expenditures  to  other  public  expenses. 

v 


vi        THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

PAGE 

Urgent  demands  for  economy  and  efficiency.  Expenditures  in  rela- 
tion to  wealth.  Costs  of  different  levels  of  education.  Costs  of 
different  subjects  of  instruction.  Costs  of  classes  of  different  sizes. 
Salaries.  Books  and  supplies.  The  meaning  of  financial  organization 
and  educational  accounting.  Exercises  and  readings. 

CHAPTER  V.  DELEGATING  RESPONSIBILITY  FOR 
CARRYING  ON  SCHOOLS 63 

Class  instruction  given  over  to  the  teacher.  Supervision.  Sketch  of 
development  of  a  school  system.  The  community  slow  to  delegate 
school  control.  Limits  of  authority  and  responsibility  not  clear.  State- 
ment by  a  public  education  association.  What  is  a  representative 
board  of  education  ?  The  functions  of  a  board  of  education.  How  a 
good  board  gets  the  work  done.  Making  the  machine  work  smoothly. 
Report  of  committee  of  superintendents.  Obsolete  administration 
system.  Status  of  superintendency  varies.  District  control  discarded 
system  of  school  administration.  An  effective  substitute  to  be  dis- 
covered. Dangers  of  this  period  of  adjustment.  Organization  under 
scientific  principles.  Control  of  school  work  through  tests.  A  study 
of  the  building  needs  of  a  city.  The  errors  of  democracy.  Exercises 
and  readings. 

CHAPTER  VI.    THE  SCHOOL  BUILDING 78 

The  building  as  an  evidence  of  a  community's  educational  views. 
Contrasts  in  plans  of  rural  schools.  Contrasts  in  urban  elementary 
schools.  A  high-school  building  of  the  early  type.  The  hygiene  of 
lighting.  The  hygiene  of  ventilation  and  heating.  Hygienic  equip- 
ment. Relation  of  equipment  to  the  course  of  study.  Modern  school 
construction  and  costs.  The  Gary  plan  for  distributing  pupils  and 
enlarging  the  'scope  of  school  work.  Requirements  to  be  met  when 
the  Gary  plan  is  adopted.  The  construction  of  consolidated  schools. 
Comparative  statistics.  Exercises  and  readings. 

CHAPTER  VII.    GROUPING  PUPILS  IN  CLASSES    .     .     96 

Transition  to  problems  of  internal  organization.  Economy  a  first 
motive  for  grouping.  Social  influence  an  important  motive.  Group- 
ing in  the  one-room  school.  Courses  of  instruction  in  relation  to  the 
problem  of  grouping.  New  problems  of  grouping  in  large  schools. 
Fundamentally  different  views  on  the  curriculum.  The  ungraded 
class  in  graded  schools.  Cases  where  failures  show  the  urgency  of 
the  grading  problem.  Efforts  to  adjust  instruction  to  pupils.  Read- 
justments of  the  curriculum.  Problems  of  grouping  in  high  school. 
Illegitimate  reasons  for  promoting  pupils.  Experiments  and  studies 
which  aim  to  supply  both  individual  instruction  and  class  instruction. 
Arrangement  of  the  materials  of  instruction.  Exercises  and  readings. 


CONTENTS  vii 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

AND  ITS  REORGANIZATION 113 

Importance  of  a  study  of  the  curriculum.  The  specialized  curricu- 
lum of  higher  schools.  Problems  of  generalizing  a  specialized 
curriculum.  Traditional  character  of  mathematics  courses  in  high 
schools.  Suggestions  of  new  subjects.  Present-day  social  demands. 
Traditional  neglect  of  industrial  education  on  the  part  of  the  public. 
The  demand  for  revision  of  the  curriculum.  Summary.  Exercises 
and  readings. 

CHAPTER  IX.  SPECIALIZED  EDUCATION  VERSUS 
GENERAL  EDUCATION 127 

Present-day  wavering  between  specialized  and  general  training.  The 
theory  of  separate  schools  for  different  classes  of  people.  Statement 
of  principles.  Public  demand  for  a  new  curriculum.  Commercial 
courses  in  high  schools.  Agricultural  high  schools.  Part-time 
courses.  Various  types  of  trade  schools.  The  Manhattan  Trade 
School,  New  York  City.  Practical  applications  as  parts  of  academic 
courses.  Studies  of  social  activities.  Exercises  and  readings. 

CHAPTER  X.    EXTENSION  OF  SCHOOL  ACTIVITIES     141 

A  general  social  movement.  Credit  for  home  activities.  Bulletin 
for  teachers :  home  credits.  Relation  of  home  work  to  traditional 
school  work.  After-school  classes  and  vacation  classes.  Continua- 
tion classes  for  adults.  Demonstrations  as  means  of  economic  and 
social  improvement.  Entertainment  as  part  of  the  educational  pro- 
gram. Associations  aimed  directly  at  the  improvement  of  schools. 
Correspondence  schools.  Principles  required  to  systematize  educa- 
tional activities.  Exercises  and  readings. 

CHAPTER  XI.  PRINCIPLES  INFLUENCING  THE 
ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  CURRICULUM 156 

Necessity  of  practical  decisions  in  spite  of  confusion.  The  doctrine 
of  discipline.  The  doctrine  of  natural  education  in  the  form  of  the 
doctrine  of  freedom.  Concentration  and  interest.  Popular  attitude 
toward  discipline.  Examples  of  discipline  and  freedom.  Natural 
education  and  recognition  of  individual  differences.  Natural  educa- 
tion as  training  for  life.  Training  in  the  methods  of  knowledge  and 
general  training.  Examples  of  views  on  formal  training.  Promi- 
nence of  curriculum  in  determining  quality  of  instruction.  Bases  for 
judging  curriculum  and  syllabi.  Eormal  discipline  and  transfer  of 
training.  Relation  of  subjects  to  maturity  of  pupils.  Summary. 
Exercises  and  readings. 


viii      THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XII.    INDIVIDUAL  DIFFERENCES      .     .     .     170 

Adaptation  of  curriculum  to  individual  pupils.  Low  grades  of  in- 
telligence. Differentiated  courses.  Tests  of  general  intelligence. 
Exceptionally  bright  pupils.  Sex  differences.  Differences  in  indus- 
trial opportunity  for  the  sexes  and  corresponding  demands  for  train- 
ing. Household  arts  as  extras.  Demand  for  new  courses  for  girls. 
Individual  differences  which  appear  during  training.  Democratic 
recognition  of  individual  differences.  Exercises  and  readings. 

CHAPTER  XIII.  PERIODICITY  IN  THE  PUPIL'S 
DEVELOPMENT 184 

Recognition  of  periodicity  in  present  organization.  The  meaning  of 
infancy.  The  period  before  entering  school.  The  primary  period 
one  of  social  imitation.  The  period  of  individualism.  Early  ado- 
lescence as  a  period  of  social  consciousness.  The  new  school 
adapted  to  adolescence.  Later  adolescence  a  period  of  specializa- 
tion. The  reorganized  school  system.  Exercises  and  readings. 

CHAPTER  XIV.  SYSTEMATIC  STUDIES  OF  THE 
CURRICULUM 197 

The  curriculum  based  on  authority  versus  the  living  curriculum. 
Older  subjects  products  of  long  selection.  Social  needs  and  the 
curriculum.  Systematic  studies  as  devices  for  facilitating  evolution 
of  the  curriculum.  A  study  of  representative  adults.  A  study  of 
current  references.  A  study  of  the  mistakes  of  pupils.  Prerequi- 
sites for  higher  courses.  Administrative  studies.  Need  of  broad, 
cooperative  studies.  Exercises  and  readings. 

CHAPTER  XV.    STANDARDIZATION 212 

Tests  and  measurements  of  products.  Earlier  standards  based  on 
opinion.  Objective  and  exact  standards.  Beginnings  of  the  move- 
ment. Handwriting  scales.  Speed  as  a  correlate  of  quality.  Stand- 
ards, personal  and  impersonal.  Social  standards  versus  imposed 
standards.  Comparison  through  exact  measurement.  Records  as  a 
basis  of  standardization.  Studies  of  oral  reading.  Studies  dealing 
with  other  subjects.  Mechanical  aspects  the  first  to  be  standard- 
ized. Standardization  and  the  science  of  education.  Exercises  and 
readings. 

CHAPTER  XVI.    METHODS 229 

Meaning  of  the  term  "  method."  Meaning  of  the  term  "  device." 
Personal  methods  and  devices.  Supposed  conflict  between  methods 
and  subject-matter.  Two  examples  of  modern  methods.  Object 
teaching.  Laboratory  method  in  physics.  Spread  of  the  laboratory 


CONTENTS  ix 


idea.  Reaction  against  the  question  and  answer  method.  Inefficient 
methods  of  study.  Organizing  a  school  for  supervised  study.  Organ- 
izing subject-matter  for  supervised  study.  Experiments  in  method. 
Method  as  a  subject  of  scientific  tests.  Exercises  and  readings. 

CHAPTER  XVII.    CLASSROOM  MANAGEMENT  ...     242 

Intellectual  progress  and  social  conditions.  Social  training  general. 
Types  of  social  organization.  Social  control  through  anticipation. 
Organization  of  routine.  Punishments  and  rewards.  larger  social 
organization.  Attempts  to  classify  unruly  members  of  the  social 
group.  Impersonal  discipline.  Exercises  and  readings. 

CHAPTER  XVIII.  SELECTED  ADMINISTRATIVE 
PROBLEMS 254 

Programs  and  marks.  The  total  school  day.  The  class  period. 
Physiological  fatigue.  Conditions  like  fatigue.  Practical  precepts 
based  on  study  of  fatigue.  Administrative  considerations  controlling 
length  of  the  class  period.  Adjustment  of  work  within  the  period. 
Adjustment  of  credits.  The  problem  of  grading.  Experiments  with 
grading  systems.  The  study  of  marks  as  an  introduction  to  a  study 
of  the  school  system.  Exercises  and  readings. 

CHAPTER  XIX.    PLAY 266 

Motives  for  cultivation  of  physical  powers.  Earlier  attitude  toward 
play.  Play  as  natural  behavior.  Periods  in  the  development  of  play. 
Play  as  natural  education.  Social  necessity  of  recreation.  Play  as 
physical  education.  The  school  and  play.  Surveys  of  children's 
play  in  cities.  Systematizing  instruction  in  play.  Survey  of  recrea- 
tional facilities.  Play  as  part  of  the  regular  school  program.  Slow 
spread  of  modern  attitude  toward  play.  Exercises  and  readings. 

CHAPTER  XX.    HEALTH  SUPERVISION 279 

The  relation  of  health  to  school  work.  Treatment  of  pathological 
cases.  School  luncheons.  Control  of  home  feeding.  Public  atten- 
tion to  nutrition  of  children.  Control  of  contagion.  The  school 
health  department.  Difficulties  of  introducing  health  instruction. 
Health  as  a  subject  of  instruction  and  as  a  mode  of  life.  Exercises 
and  readings. 

CHAPTER  XXL    SCIENTIFIC  SUPERVISION  ....     289 

Evolution  of  the  demand  for  supervision.  The  principal.  Other 
supervisory  officers.  Lack  of  public  appreciation  of  central  prob- 
lems. Managerial  training  in  relation  to  democracy.  The  purpose 
of  the  present  discussion.  Studies  of  the  community.  Selection 
and  management  of  teachers.  Standardization  by  measurement  of 


x          THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

PAGE 

results.  An  example  of  public  recognition  of  the  need  of  efficiency 
measurements.  Scientific  studies  and  central  supervision.  Scientific 
supervision.  Exercises  and  readings. 

CHAPTER  XXII.    THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION       .     299 

Scientific  methods  of  studying  schools.  Definition  through  enumera- 
tion of  methods.  The  history  of  educational  theory  and  practice. 
Courses  in  psychology.  Educational  psyohology.  Statistical  studies. 
The  experimental  method.  Extension  of  use  of  psychological 
methods.  Studies  of  retardation.  School  experiments  and  labora- 
tory studies.  Examples  throughout  earlier  chapters.  Studies  of 
administrative  problems.  Method  of  comparison.  Records  neces- 
sary to  scientific  study.  Subdivisions  of  the  science  of  education. 
Rapid  expansion  of  the  science  of  education.  Definition  of  the 
science  of  education.  Exercises  and  readings. 

CHAPTER  XXIII.  PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING  OF 
TEACHERS 308 

Increasing  demand  for  professional  training.  American  normal 
schools.  American  demands  on  secondary-school  teachers.  German 
training  of  secondary-school  teachers.  New  courses  in  colleges  and 
universities  for  secondary-school  teachers.  The  requirements  of  a 
standardizing  .association.  The  California  requirements  the  most 
advanced  in  the  United  States.  Continuation  training  of  school 
officers.  Specialized  training  for  administration.  Contributions  to 
the  science  of  education.  Exercises  and  readings. 

APPENDIX 321 

INDEX .327 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIGURE  PAGE 

i.  Average  number  of  high-school  units  in  the  approved  schools 

of  the  various  states  of  the  North  Central  Association      .  6 

2  A.  Pauses  made  in  silent  reading 8 

2  B.  Pauses  made  in  oral  reading 9 

3.  Diagram  showing  the  organization  of  German  schools  and 

American  schools 18 

4.  Proportion  of  public  money  spent  for  public  schools  and 

other  items 50 

5.  Distribution  in  the  various  grades  of  each  thousand  dollars 

expended  for  instruction 59 

6.  Floor  plan  of  a  typical  school  building  of  the  old  style ...  79 

7.  Floor  plan  of  a  well-arranged  one-teacher  rural  school  of 

minimum  cost 80 

8.  An  old  and  a  new  rural  school 81 

9  A.  Ground  plan  of  Alabama  School 83 

9  B.  Exterior  of  Alabama  School 83 

roA.  Ground  plan  of  Empire  School 84 

loB.  Exterior  of  Empire  School 84 

1 1.  Record  of  nonpromotions  and  failures  in  Cleveland.  1914       .  103 

1 2.  Enrollment  in  private  vocational  schools  and  in  public  high 

schools  of  Chicago 133 

13.  Individual  differences  in  the  number  of  lines  read  in  a  minute 

by  pupils  in  the  fifth  grades  of  two  schools 181 

14.  Average  quality  and  average  speed  of  handwriting  of  pupils 

of  the  four  upper  grades  in  ten  schools 218 

15.  Speed  and  quality  of  handwriting 223 

1 6.  Distribution  of  grades  in  various  Harvard  classes    ....  263 


LIST  OF  TABLES 

TABLE  PAGE 

I.  Expenditures  for  public  elementary  and  secondary  schools 
compared  for  a  period  of  years,  including  also  a  com- 
parison of  population  for  the  same  periods  ....  48 

II.  Per  cent  of  total  governmental  cost  payments  devoted  to 

various  city  departments 51 

III.  Cost  per  pupil  in  elementary  schools  and  high  schools  in 

selected  cities 55 

IV.  Cost,  per  thousand  student  hours,   of  instruction  in  high 

schools  in  the  various  subjects  of  the  curriculum     .     .       57 

V.  The  portion  of  each  thousand  dollars  spent  for  instruction 

in  each  subject  in  each  of  the  first  six  elementary  grades        58 

VI.  Percentages  of  failures  in  the  chief  subjects  of  instruction  in 

the  five  high  schools  of  Denver  in  June,  1915  .     .     .     .     107 


THE  SCIENTIFIC   STUDY  OF 
EDUCATION 

CHAPTER  I 

EXTENDING   THE   PUPIL'S  VIEW  OF  THE   SCHOOL 
THE  PUPIL'S  VIEW  LIMITED 

Most  people  think  of  school  matters  from  the  pupil's 
point  of  view.  When  they  learned  arithmetic  and  grammar, 
or  later  when  they  studied  algebra  and  Latin,  each  course  was 
presented  to  them  as  though  it  were  a  perfect  system.  The 
teacher  did  not  confide  in  them  that  arithmetic  probably 
ought  to  be  revised  by  the  omission  of  many  of  its  topics, 
that  formal  grammar  is  a  very  doubtful  subject,  and  that  both 
algebra  and  Latin  are  on  the  point  of  losing  their  places  as 
required  subjects.  The  pupil  sees  the  front  of  the  school 
'scenery ;  the  machinery  behind  is  known  only  to  those  who 
conduct  the  performance. 

It  would  be  possible  to  multiply  indefinitely  examples 
which  show  that  the  pupil's  view  of  the  school  is  very 
limited.  What  pupil  understands  the  duties  of  the  princi- 
pal or  the  superintendent,  or  of  the  still  more  remote  and 
mysterious  board  of  education  ?  Where  does  the  daily  pro- 
gram come  from  ?  Who  decides  about  textbooks  ?  Why 
are  school  buildings  commonly  planned  with  large  study- 
rooms  ?  Most  of  these  questions  are  never  thought  of  by 
pupils.  Everything  in  school  life  seems  to  have  a  kind 
of  inevitableness  which  raises  it  above  question  or  even 
consideration. 


2          THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

CONSERVATISM  IN  THE  COMMUNITY  AS  A  NATURAL 
CONSEQUENCE 

The  narrowness  of  the  pupil's  view  would  have  less  serious 
consequences  if  it  were  not  for  the  ^act  that  the  pupil  be- 
comes in  mature  life  a  member  of  a  board  of  education  or 
adopts  teaching  as  his  profession.  Then  trouble  results, 
because  there  is  machinery  which  must  be  kept  running  if 
schools  are  to  be  efficient,  and  this  machinery  suffers  if 
intrusted  to  the  hands  of  those  who  do  not  understand  its 
complexities. 

One  school  superintendent,  who  encountered  vigorous 
opposition  to  the  introduction  of  changes  in  the  course  of 
study,  wrote  as  follows : 

The  average  American  citizen  whose  schooling  was  limited  to 
the  primary  and  grammar  grades  looks  with  reverence  upon  the 
subjects  there  taught,  and  refuses  to  concur  in  a  change  of  the 
course  of  study  for  the  elementary  school.  Associated  with 
the  average  citizen,  is  a  heavy  percentage  of  the  teaching  faculty 
of  both  elementary  and  high  schools  throughout  the  country.1 

Another  superintendent,  who  was  more  successful  in 
bringing  about  reforms,  makes  this  statement : 

People  are  more  conservative  in  their  attitude  towards  educa- 
tional innovations  than  toward  new  adjustments  to  meet  the 
demands  of  changing  modern  life  in  any  other  field  of  activity. 
Each  adult  is  inclined  to  overvalue  the  particular  type  of  training 
he  received  and  to  regard  with  suspicion  any  change  which  will 
tend  to  discredit  this  sort  of  training  received  at  such  an  expendi- 
ture of  time  and  money.  The  schools  are,  therefore,  the  last  insti- 
tution to  respond  to  the  changing  demands  of  modern  life.2 

1  Report  of  Mrs.  Ella  Flagg  Young,  Superintendent  of  Schools  of  the 
City  of  Chicago,  for  the  Year  Ending  June  30,  1915,  published  as  a  part 
of  the  Sixty-first  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Education,  p.  25. 

2  Special  Report  of  the  Boise  Public  Schools,  by  Superintendent  C.  S. 
Meek,  June,  1915,  p.  57. 


EXTENDING  THE  PUPIL'S  VIEW  3 

DEMAND  FOR  A  BROAD  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY 

If  schools  are  to  be  progressive  and  efficient,  they  must 
be  studied  very  much  more  broadly  and  comprehensively 
than  they  can  be  from  the  pupil's  point  of  view.  The  sug- 
gestion naturally  arises  that  this  broader  study  is  a  part  of 
the  professional  duty  of  the  teacher.  So  it  is ;  but  it  will 
not  be  enough  merely  to  exhibit  the  intricacies  of  education 
to  teachers.  The  whole  community  must  be  shown  by  scien- 
tific methods  that  the  school  is  a  complex  social  institution, 
and  that  its  conduct,  like  the  conduct  of  every  other  social 
institution,  requires  constant  study  and  expert  supervision. 
In  this  movement  of  opening  the  eyes  of  the  community  to 
the  needs  and  nature  of  education,  the  school  officers  must  be 
leaders ;  but  their  methods  must  be  impersonal  and  exact. 

BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION 

During  recent  years  the  demand  for  a  thorough  and  com- 
prehensive study  of  schools  by  scientific  methods  has  led  to 
a  number  of  investigations  which  can  be  offered  as  an  opti- 
mistic Beginning  of  a  science  of  education.  It  would,  indeed, 
be  far  beyond  the  truth  to  assert  that  science  has  settled  all 
the  problems  of  teaching  and  of  school  organization.  There 
is,  however,  a  very  respectable  body  of  fact  which  has  been 
clearly  enough  defined  so  that  it  can  in  no  wise  be  set  aside. 
In  certain  details  the  requirements  of  a  scientifically  valid 
educational  scheme  are  known  and  can  be  described.  The 
method  of  studying  schools  can  safely  be  said  to  be  estab- 
lished. It  is  the  work  of  the  future  to  take  up,  now  this 
problem,  now  that,  and  by  progressive  stages  to  work  out 
a  complete  science  of  school  management  and  classroom 
organization. 

It  will  be  the  purpose  of  subsequent  chapters  to  define 
fully  certain  of  the  leading  problems  with  which  the  science 
of  education  deals.  The  remainder  of  this  chapter  will  be 


4         THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

devoted  to  a  brief  statement  of  certain  typical  studies,  which 
will  make  more  concrete  and  definite  the  contention  that 
the  pupil's  view  of  schools  is  narrow  and  that  the  teacher's 
view  must  be  extended,  as  must  also  that  of  the  community 
at  large,  if  educational  conditions  are  to  be  improved. 

EFFECTIVENESS  OF  STUDIES  OF  RETARDATION 

First,  we  may  refer  to  investigations  which  have  been 
made  of  the  rate  of  promotion  of  pupils  through  the  grades. 

Whenever  a  pupil  fails  to  complete  the  work  of  a  grade 
in  the  appointed  time,  it  is  evident  that  there  is  some  kind 
of  maladjustment.  The  pupil  may  be  incompetent  to  do 
the  work  required  of  him  because  he  is  mentally  deficient. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  that  the  work  is  ill  chosen 
and  in  need  of  revision.  The  following  statement  from 
one  of  the  leading  students  of  education  in  the  United 
States  describes  with  clearness  the  problem  and  the  progress 
made  in  meeting  it. 

Just  ten  years  ago  the  distinguished  superintendent  of  schools 
of  New  York  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  39  per  cent  of  the 
children  in  the  schools  of  that  city  were  above  the  normal  ages  for 
their  grades.  This  aroused  widespread  investigation,  which  showed 
that  similar  conditions  obtained  in  other  cities  throughout  the 
country.  Soon  studies  of  this  phase  of  educational  efficiency 
showed  that  the  same  conditions  which  resulted  in  our  schools 
being  crowded  with  retarded  children  also  prevented  a  large  propor- 
tion of  these  children  from  ever  completing  the  elementary  grades. 

About  seven  years  ago  this  became  one  of  the  most  widely 
studied  problems  of  educational  administration,  and  in  the  past 
four  it  has  been  one  of  the  prominent  parts  of  the  school  surveys. 
During  the  entire  period  hundreds  of  superintendents  throughout 
the  country  have  been  readjusting  their  schools  to  better  the 
conditions  disclosed. 

In  these  seven  years  the  number  of  children  graduating  each 
year  from  the  elementary  schools  of  America  has  doubled.  The 


EXTENDING  THE  PUPIL'S  VIEW  5 

number  now  is  three  quarters  of  a  million  greater  annually  than  it 
was  then.  The  only  great  organized  industry  in  America  that  has 
increased  the  output  of  its  finished  product  as  rapidly  as  the  public 
schools  during  the  past  seven  years  is  the  automobile  industry. 

It  is  probable  that  no  other  one  thing  so  fundamentally  impor- 
tant to  the  future  of  America  as  this  accomplishment  of  our  public 
schools  has  taken  place  in  recent  years.  There  is  every  evidence 
that  this  is  the  direct  result  of  applying  measurements  to  education. 
If  the  school  survey  movement  now  under  way  can  produce  other 
results  at  all  comparable  with  this  one,  we  need  have  no  fear  for 
the  outcome.1 

The  quotation  does  not  tell  us  how  the  reform  has  been 
worked  out.  That  is  a  long  story.  In  some  cities  better 
teachers  were  needed  and  have  been  employed.  In  a  great 
number  of  cases  the  course  of  study  has  been  revised. 
Sometimes  smaller  classes  have  been  provided.  So  on 
through  a  long  list  of  details,  one  •  might  enumerate  the 
reforms  which  have  resulted  from  a  careful  study  of  the  one 
fact  that  pupils  in  the  schools  were  older  than  they  normally 
should  be. 

A  STUDY  OF  HIGH-SCHOOL  COURSES 

A  second  type  of  study  can  be  borrowed  from  the  reports 
of  the  North  Central  Association  of  Colleges  and  Secondary 
Schools.  This  Association  has  as  its  practical  purpose  the 
inspection  of  the  secondary  schools  and  colleges  of  the 
northern  states  from  Ohio  to  Colorado.  The  inspectors  of 
high  schools  in  seventeen  states  brought  together  in  the 
report  of  1916  a  number  of  exact  statistics  regarding  1 128 
approved  schools.2  One  set  of  these  facts  may  be  selected 
for  special  comment. 

1  Leonard  P.  Ayres,  "  School  Surveys,"  School  and  Society,  Vol.  I, 
No.  17,  April  24,  1915,  pp.  580-581. 

'2  Proceedings  of  the  Twenty-first  Annual  Meeting  of  the  North  Cen- 
tral Association  of  Colleges  and  Secondary  Schools,  Chicago,  1916, 
pp.  97-121. 


Average  for  all 

Colorado 

North  Dakota 

South  Dakota 

i                     ... 

Illinois 

Indiana 

i                     t                    i                     i 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Michigan 

Minnesota' 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Ohio          ' 

Oklahoma  ' 

Wisconsin 
''ii 

Wyoming 

0                     5                      10                      15                     20 

10                      5                     0 

FIG.  i.   Average  number  of  high-school  units  in  the  approved  schools  of 
the  various  states  of  the  North  Central  Association 

The  full-drawn  lines  are  proportional  in  length  to  the  number  of  units  offered  in 
academic  subjects ;  the  dotted  lines,  to  technical  subjects 


EXTENDING  THE  PUPIL'S  VIEW  7 

The  number  of  units,  or  courses,  offered  in  high  schools 
has  increased  rapidly  in  recent  years.  Especially  marked  is 
the  addition  to  the  school  program  of  technical  subjects,  such 
as  home  economics,  manual  training,  and  commercial  courses. 
The  report  here  under  discussion  states  that  in  all  the  ap- 
proved schools  of  the  association  there  is  an  average  of  2 1 . 1 3 
academic  units,  that  is,  units  in  such  subjects  as  languages, 
history,  mathematics,  science,  and  English ;  and  an  average 
of  9.41  units  in  technical  or  vocational  subjects. 

When  we  examine  the  individual  states,  we  find  that 
Minnesota,  which  has  a  large  state  fund,  much  progressive 
legislation  on  high  schools,  and  a  vigorous  state  department 
of  education,  shows  averages  of  23.87  academic  units  and 
12.65  units  of  vocational  subjects.  South  Dakota,  where 
the  school  system  is  new  and  economic  conditions  are  much 
less  favorable,  has  averages  of  17.62  academic  units  and 
6.46  vocational  units.  The  more  striking  differences  are 
those  which  arise  not  from  economic  conditions  but  from 
clearly  indicated  differences  in  educational  policy.  Ohio  has 
an  average  of  22.24  academic  units,  which  is  high,  and  an 
average  of  only  7.26  vocational  units,  which  is  low.  On  the 
other  hand,  Kansas  has  22.9  academic  units,  or  just  about 
the  same  as  Ohio,  and  10.13  units  in  vocational  subjects. 

Finally,  if  we  carry  the  comparison  into  still  further  detail 
by  examining  the  schools  in  a  single  state,  we  find  in  Ohio 
one  city  with  a  high  school  of  870  students  offering  18 
academic  units  and  5  vocational  units,  while  in  another  city, 
where  the  student  body  numbers  710  students,  the  school 
offers  24  academic  units  and  22  vocational  units. 

The  comparisons  are  illuminating  in  several  respects.  It 
is  probable  that  most  communities  are  ignorant  of  the  fact 
that  their  own  high  schools  differ  from  others.  The  publica- 
tion of  definite  facts  with  regard  to  the  practices  of  schools 
would  stimulate  wholesome  thinking  on  school  problems. 
The  whole  life  of  a  school  depends  in  very  large  measure  on 


8         THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 
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FIG.  2  A.    Pauses  made  in  silent  reading 

The  vertical  lines,  Figs.  2  A,  2  B,  show  where  the  eyes  of  an  adult  reader  paused  during 

the  reading.    The  numbers  above  the  vertical  lines  in  the  two  figures  indicate  the 

order  of  the  fixations 

the  course  of  study.  When  there  are  such  wide  divergences 
as  are  here  indicated,  there  is  clear  evidence  of  differences 
in  educational  policies  in  different  states  and  communities. 
At  the  present  time  the  accepted  policies  are  often  the  prod- 
ucts of  tradition  or  accident.  They  should  be  made  subjects 
of  careful  study  and  either  confirmed  or  revised. 


AN  EXPERIMENTAL  ANALYSIS  OF  A  FUNDAMENTAL  SUBJECT 
/ 

As  a  third  type  of  scientific  study  we  may  take  certain 
recent  laboratory  investigations  of  reading.  Reading  is  the 
most  important  subject  taught  in  the  schools ;  yet  there 


EXTENDING  THE  PUPIL'S  VIEW 
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FIG.  2  B.    Pauses  made  in  oral  reading 

The  numbers  below  the  vertical  lines,  Figs.  2  A,  2  B,  indicate  the  duration  of  each 

pause  in  fiftieths  of  a  second.    (To  reduce  these  figures  to  the  unit  adopted  in  the 

text  multiply  by  twenty) 

are  the  widest  differences  in  the  results  secured  with  differ- 
ent pupils.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  schools  to  find  out  what 
constitutes  the  difference  between  good  readers  and  bad 
readers,  in  order  that  both  classes  may  be  improved. 

The  method  of  these  studies  consists  in  photographing 
the  reader's  eyes  as  they  travel  along  printed  lines.  The 
number  and  length  of  the  pauses  are  thus  determined.  It 
is  found  in  general  that  competent  readers  see  more  at  a 
glance  than  do  poor  readers.  Furthermore,  it  is  found  that 
different  types  of  reading  are  radically  different ;  thus  there 
is  a  marked  difference  between  oral  and  silent  reading. 
The  importance  of  distinguishing  these  two  types  of  reading 


10       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

lies  in  the  fact  that  most  of  the  teaching  of  reading  in  the 
elementary  schools  is  by  means  of  the  oral  method.  Most 
of  the  demands  of  later  life,  and  all  of  the  demands  made 
upon  pupils  when  they  study  textbooks  in  geography  and 
history  and  the  other  subjects  of  the  school  course,  call  for 
ability  in  silent  reading.  The  results  of  investigations  can  be 
briefly  stated  in  the  following  averages :  the  average  numbers 
of  pauses  per  line  in  oral  reading  for  adults,  high-school 
pupils,  and  elementary-school  pupils,  reading  passages  of 
different  grades  of  difficulty,  are  8.2,  8.6,  and  8.1,  while 
the  corresponding  averages  for  silent  reading  are  6.5,  7, 
and  6.3.  These  figures  mean  that  the  eye  makes  more 
pauses  along  a  printed  line  when  the  reader  is  reading  orally 
than  when  he  is  reading  silently.  Oral  reading  is  therefore 
a  more  laborious,  difficult  form  of  reading.  Furthermore, 
the  time  spent  in  each  pause  is  greater  in  oral  reading. 
The  averages  in  thousandths  of  a  second  for  oral  reading 
for  the  three  classes  of  readers  are  380.8,  372.9,  398,  while 
the  corresponding  figures  for  silent  reading  are  308.2,  311.1, 
and  3I4.1  These  figures  show  that  oral  reading  is  slow 
as  well  as  laborious. 

It  would  require  more  discussion  than  is  appropriate  at 
this  point  to  bring  out  the  full  meaning  of  such  facts  as 
these.  Enough  appears  on  the  surface  of  the  results,  how- 
ever, to  make  it  quite  evident  that  the  school  ought  not  to 
emphasize  oral  reading  in  the  upper  grades  as  it  does  to-day. 
The  daily  oral-reading  drill  in  the  seventh  and  eighth 
grades  imposes  on  the  pupils  a  slow,  clumsy  form  of  reading 
at  a  time  when  they  ought  to  be  cultivating  the  power  of 
rapid  silent  reading. 

It  is  by  means  of  investigations  of  this  kind  that  each  of 
the  subjects  of  instruction  is  being  examined,  and  as  a  result 

1  William  A.  Schmidt,  An  Experimental  Study  in  the  Psychology  of 
Reading  (Supplementary  Educational  Monograph  of  the  School  Review  and 
the  Elementary  School  Journal,  Vol.  I,  No.  2),  p.  43. 


EXTENDING  THE  PUPIL'S  VIEW  II 

school  work  is  increasingly  developing  effective  methods 
of  cultivating  children's  intellectual  powers.  The  work  of 
analyzing  each  of  the  subjects  will  be  slow  and  will  require 
the  cooperation  of  many  investigators,  but  in  several  sub- 
jects, especially  in  the  elementary  schools,  an  encouraging 
beginning  has  been  made. 

A  STUDY  OF  THE  RELATION  OF  EDUCATION  TO  GENERAL 
SOCIAL  LIFE 

A  fourth  and  final  example  can  be  borrowed  from  studies 
made  in  the  city  of  Minneapolis  of  the  opportunities  for 
trade  training  in  that  city,  of  the  number  of  workmen 
needed  in  each  of  the  trades,  and  of  the  kind  of  prepara- 
tion required  for  efficiency  in  each  branch  of  labor.  An 
industrial  and  educational  survey  of  the  community  was 
undertaken  for  the  specific  purpose  of  adapting  educational 
organization  to  the  practical  needs  of  the  community.1 
Such  a  study  recognizes  the  fact  that  the  school  is  but  one 
among  many  social  institutions  and  that  the  school  must 
find  its  proper  place  in  community  life  through  a  thorough 
scientific  study  of  other  more  general  social  activities. 

THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATIONAL  PROBLEMS 

Here,  again,  it  is  by  no  means  asserted  that  the  solution 
of  the  problem  of  training  workers  for  the  industries  has 
been  found.  It  can,  however,  be  stated  with  complete 
assurance  that  both  the  school  and  the  community  will 
proceed  with  greater  intelligence  if  the  facts  are  carefully 
canvassed  in  advance. 

The  spirit  of  patient,  detailed  scientific  study  is  more 
and  more  dominating  the  schools.  There  arc  some  who, 

1  Report  of  the  Minneapolis  Survey  for  Vocational  Kducation,  Rullttin 
No.  a i  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Industrial  Kducation, 
1916. 


12       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

impatient  at  the  labor  involved  in  such  studies,  would  rush 
forward  to  radical  experimentation.  Fortunately,  even  such 
rash  reformers  are  becoming  convinced  that  they  need  to 
keep  records  of  their  results  in  order  to  prove  the  success 
of  the  changes  which  they  have  made.  As  a  result,  they 
too  are  taking  on  some  of  the  forms  of  science,  though  they 
do  not  adopt  the  full  program  of  patient  study  of  conditions. 
The  result  of  a  scientific  movement  such  as  is  under 
way  in  education  will  be  the  cultivation  of  a  broader  con- 
ception than  was  ever  possible  from  any  individual  point  of 
view.  The  pupil's  view  is  narrow  because  he  comes  in 
contact  with  the  school  only  at  the  point  of  application  of 
educational  methods  to  his  own  life.  The  scientific  view  of 
education  is  broad  because  it  places  the  school  in  its  proper 
relations  to  other  social  activities,  because  it  defines  the 
relation  of  the  pupils  and  teachers  to  one  another  and  to 
the  material  used  for  instruction,  and  because  it  opens  up 
all  the  results  of  school  work  to  full  inspection  and  evalua- 
tion. This  broad  scientific  view  is  the  one  which  the 
teacher  and  the  community  at  large  should  adopt. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

In  every  school  certain  changes  are  introduced  from  time  to 
time  in  spite  of  the  conservatism  of  the  community.  Let  the 
student  find  examples  of  (i)  new  courses  of  study,  (2)  new 
methods  of  appointing  or  promoting  teachers,  or  (3)  new  forms 
of  organization,  such  as  the  junior  high  school  or  departmental 
teaching.  After  discovering  innovations,  let  him  find  how  they 
were  brought  about. 

What  are  the  usual  forms  of  school  records  and  reports  known 
to  the  student  ?  How  could  records  be  made  of  more  value  ? 
Suggest  methods  of  presenting  the  facts  of  daily  attendance  so 
that  they  can  be  readily  interpreted  by  a  community.  What  are 
some  of  the  interpretations  that  ought  to  be  put  on  failures  and 
nonpromotions  in  different  kinds  of  cases  ?  Is  repetition  of  a 


EXTENDING  THE  PUPIL'S  VIEW  13 

course  desirable  for  a  pupil  who  has  failed  ?  Are  failures  more 
common  in  required  courses  than  in  elective  courses  ?  When  a  re- 
quired course  is  described  as  essential  to  the  education  of  everyone, 
what  is  meant  ? 

Let  the  student  test  his  own  rates  of  reading.  How  should  a 
college  class  differ  from  a  high-school  class  in  ability  to  read  ?  Go 
to  a  library  or  study-room  and  watch  the  people  read.  Report  the 
differences  between  individuals. 

The  readings  which  are  most  stimulating  to  students  who  have 
never  faced  the  problems  of  school  organization  are  those  which 
call  in  question  present  school  practices. 

DEWEY,  JOHN.  The  School  and  Society.  The  University  of  Chicago 
Press.  This  is  one  of  the  most  stimulating  demands  for  a  reorgan- 
ization of  the  school  which  has  ever  been  written. 

ROUSSEAU,  JEAN  JACQUES.  Emile.  D.  Appleton  and  Company.  This 
is  a  book  of  great  historical  significance.  It  is  an  indictment  of 
formalism  in  education  and  a  vigorous  advocacy  of  naturalism. 

SPENCER,  HERBERT.  Essays  on  Education.  D.  Appleton  and  Company. 
This  is  a  demand  for  a  thorough  reform  of  the  school  curriculum. 
It  is  now  nearly  sixty  years  old,  but  it  is  modern  in  its  spirit. 


CHAPTER  II 

SCHOOLS   OF   OTHER  COUNTRIES  AND  OF  OTHER 

TIMES 

THE  COMPARATIVE  AND  HISTORICAL  METHODS 

The  scientific  methods  of  studying  school  problems,  which 
were  illustrated  in  the  last  chapter,  can  be  supported  and 
supplemented  by  a  comparison  of  the  schools  of  the  present 
with  the  institutions  of  earlier  times,  and  by  a  comparison  of 
the  schools  of  different  countries  with  one  another.  Such 
comparisons  seldom  serve  as  an  adequate  basis  for  the  re- 
organization of  school  practices,  because  the  conditions  in 
one  generation  and  in  one  country  are  so  unlike  those  of 
others  that  direct  transfer  of  methods  of  procedure  is  dan- 
gerous. Comparison  serves,  however,  to  set  in  clear  per- 
spective the  characteristics  which  distinguish  each  situation 
from  every  other.  If  an  American  wishes  to  see  the  school 
system  with  which  he  is  familiar  from  a  new  point  of  view, 
the  comparative  method  furnishes  a  kind  of  outside  station 
from  which  he  may  look  back  and  see  facts  which  were  by 
no  means  clear  in  their  meaning  when  viewed  from  near 
at  hand. 

THE  AMERICAN  TEXTBOOK  METHOD  OF  TEACHING 

One  very  impressive  difference  between  the  schools  of 
the  United  States  and  the  schools  of  Europe  is  to  be  found 
in  the  fact  that  class  exercises  in  our  schools  are  commonly 
based  on  assignments  in  textbooks,  while  in  Europe  the 
chief  method  of  instruction  is  oral  exposition  by  the  teacher. 
The  word  "recitation,"  which  is  often  employed  in  describing 


SCHOOLS  OF  OTHER  COUNTRIES  15 

a  classroom  exercise,  is  an  American  term.  It  originated 
at  the  period  when  devotion  to  the  textbook  was  even 
greater  than  it  is  now,  —  when  the  pupil  was  expected  to 
repeat  verbatim  the  passage  from  the  text.  In  British  books 
on  education  the  word  "  recitation  "  appears  only  when  re- 
ferring to  American  practices,  and  usually  takes  the  form 
"  the  American  recitation."  In  the  German  educational 
vocabulary  the  word  has  no  equivalent. 

The  unique  American  method  of  reciting  lessons  learned 
out  of  a  book  can  be  contrasted  with  the  European  method 
by  taking  a  concrete  case.  If  one  goes  into  a  geography 
class  in  a  German  school,  one  finds  in  the  hands  of  the 
pupils  no  book,  except  that  in  the  schools  for  the  richer 
classes  there  may  be  an  atlas ;  commonly  the  wall  map 
serves.  The  teacher  lectures  on  some  section  of  the  coun- 
try, and  follows  the  lecture  by  questions  which  the  pupils 
answer.  The  advantages  of  the  European  method  are  that 
the  pupils  become  trained,  attentive  listeners,  and  are  able 
in  answering  questions  to  talk  coherently  for  long  periods, 
imitating  the  continuous  discourse  of  the  teacher.  The  dis- 
advantages are  that  the  information  supplied  is  limited  by 
the  individual  teacher's  training,  and  the  pupils  cultivate 
little  or  no  independence  in  the  collection  and  sifting  of 
information.  The  influence  of  the  teacher  is  always  domi- 
nant—  often  oppressively  so. 

INDEPENDENCE  OF  THOUGHT  BASED  ON  READING 

The  contrast  here  pointed  out  is  one  of  fundamental 
importance.  It  can  be  adequately  understood  by  a  study  of 
the  history  of  American  schools.  When  the  colonists  came 
to  New  England  they  were  bent  on  securing  for  every  indi- 
vidual independent  personal  contact  with  the  truth.  They 
had  left  their  European  homes  because  there  dominating 
authority  always  stood  between  the  individual  and  the 


1 6       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

sources  of  truth.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  colonists, 
therefore,  was  to  provide  for  the  training  of  every  boy  and 
girl  in  that  power  which  would  make  him  or  her  independent, 
especially  in  religion.  The  early  legislation  shows  unequiv- 
ocally this  motive.  Thus  in  1650  Connecticut  passed  a  law 
which  had  a  preamble  very  much  like  that  of  the  Massachu- 
setts law  of  1647.  The  preamble  is  as  follows: 

It  being  one  chief  project  of  that  old  deluder,  Satan,  to  keep 
men  from  a  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  as  in  former  times,  keep- 
ing them  in  an  unknown  tongue,  so  in  these  latter  times,  by  per- 
suading them  from  the  use  of  tongues,  so  that  at  least,  the  true 
sense  and  meaning  of  the  original  might  be  clouded  by  false 
glosses  of  saint-seeming  deceivers ;  and  that  learning  may  not  be 
buried  in  the  grave  of  our  forefathers  [the  court  decreed  that 
whenever  a  township  increased  to  fifty  householders  they  should 
employ  someone]  to  teach  all  such  children  as  shall  resort  to  him, 
to  write  and  read. 

So  strictly  did  the  early  schools  devote  themselves  to 
reading  that  arithmetic  and,  in  some  cases,  even  writing 
were  neglected  in  the  exclusive  cultivation  of  the  one  art  of 
reading.  Later  generations  of  American  teachers  and  pupils 
have  experienced  a  great  expansion  of  the  content  of  the 
course  of  study,  but  the  method  of  instruction  has  always 
been  predominantly  the  reading  method.  The  large  number 
of  supplementary  readers  used  in  history,  in  geography,  and 
in  nature  study  keep  up  the  traditions  of  a  school  which  was 
from  the  first  a  reading  school. 

The  social  consequences  of  this  emphasis  on  reading  can 
be  seen  in  the  fact  that  public  opinion  in  America  is  con- 
trolled largely  by  an  appeal  to  the  people  through  reading 
matter.  The  importance  of  this  kind  of  public  opinion  can 
hardly  be  overemphasized.  In  a  democracy  there  must  be 
ability  to  form  independent  opinions,  and  this  is  possible 
only  where  there  is  the  widest  training  in  reading. 


SCHOOLS  OF  OTHER  COUNTRIES  17 

EUROPEAN  SCHOOLS  CASTE  SCHOOLS,  AMERICAN  SCHOOLS 
TRULY  PUBLIC 

A  second  characteristic  of  the  school  system  of  the  United 
States  which  distinguishes  it  from  the  systems  of  Europe 
is  described  by  the  phrase,  coined  in  England,  "  the  educa- 
tional ladder."  There  is  no  limit  in  the  American  system 
to  the  possibility  offered  the  individual  pupil  of  going  on  to 
higher  institutions.  The  boy  or  girl  who  has  completed  the 
elementary  course  can  go  on  to  the  high  school  and  from 
the  high  school  to  the  college  and  university.  This  is  not 
true  anywhere  in  Europe.  There  the  school  systems  are 
sharply  divided  into  two  wholly  different  and  distinct  lines 
of  advancement.  The  children  of  the  common  people  go 
to  one  school ;  the  children  of  the  aristocracy  and  richer 
classes  go  to  a  different  school.  The  school  for  the  common 
people  is  limited  in  time  and  opportunity,  and  does  not  lead 
into  the  universities.  Thus  the  Volksschnle  of  Germany, 
which  gave  instruction  before  the  war  to  92  per  cent  of 
the  total  school  population,  is  an  eight-year  school,  teaching 
only  the  common  branches.  The  pupil  who  enters  the 
Volksschule  cannot  look  forward  to  entering  any  one  of  the 
professions  or  any  civil-service  position.  He  cannot  be  trans- 
ferred from  the  upper  grades  of  this  common  school  into  the 
secondary  school.  The  common  school  of  Germany  is  a 
social  instrument  for  the  perpetuation  of  a  caste  system. 
The  common  people  know  their  place  because  they  learn 
it  when  they  enter  school. 

-  The  European  school  for  the  aristocracy,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  organized  from  its  earliest  years  with  a  view  to 
preparing  its  pupils  for  the  higher  callings.  It  is  difficult 
for  the  American  to  understand  how  distinct  this  school  is 
from  the  common  school.  The  term  "secondary  school" 
is  sometimes  applied  in  educational  writings  to  both  the  high 
school  of  the  United  States  and  the  aristocratic  schools  of 


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SCHOOLS  OF  OTHER  COUNTRIES  19 

Europe.  But  the  secondary  school  of  Europe  is  entirely 
different  from  our  high  school.  It  takes  little  children  in 
the  lower  grades  and  carries  them  through.  Thus  the 
German  Gymnasium  takes  boys  of  the  age  of  six.  These 
are  received  into  what  is  called  a  Vorschule,  or  preliminary 
school.  After  three  years  in  the  preliminary  school  the  pupil 
begins  his  nine-year  course  in  preparation  for  the  university. 
In  some  of  the  states  of  the  German  Empire  the  pupil 
may  be  transferred  into  the  Gymnasium  from  the  earliest 
grades  of  the  common  school,  but  from  this  point  on  there 
is  no  commerce  whatsoever,  in  teaching  staff,  in  course  of 
study,  or  in  pupil  constituency,  between  the  common  school 
and  the  school  of  the  aristocracy.  The  division  in  France 
is  quite  as  strict.  In  England  transfer  in  the  later  years  of 
the  common-school  course  can  be  made,  but  only  on  the 
basis  of  examinations. 

The  social  consequences  of  such  a  division  within  the 
school  system  need  no  detailed  exposition.  The  hard-and- 
fast  lines  of  caste  are  drawn  very  deep  in  any  country  where 
the  boys  and  girls  are  marked  from  the  beginning  of  their 
training  by  separation  in  opportunity. 

INFLUENCE  OF  EUROPEAN  SCHOOLS  ON  THE  EDUCATIONAL 
SYSTEM  OF  THIS  COUNTRY 

It  is  not  enough  that  we  should  see  this  contrast,  how- 
ever ;  we  must  learn  its  fuller  meaning  by  looking  into  the 
history  of  our  own  school  system.  The  fact  is  that  we  have 
not  broken  entirely  away  from  the  traditions  of  Europe. 
Our  elementary  school  was  borrowed  directly  from  the  Volks- 
schule  of  Germany,  and  many  of  the  readjustments  which 
we  are  making  to-day  are  nothing  less  than  efforts  to  shake 
ourselves  free  from  that  disjointed  scheme  of  education. 

The  time  of  this  borrowing  of  the  German  /  'olksschulc 
is  clearly  marked  in  our  history.  In  the  first  three  decades 


20       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

of  the  nineteenth  century  American  schools  were  at  a  low 
level  of  development.  A  vivid  picture  of  conditions  in  1801 
can  be  given  by  quoting  from  one  of  the  earliest  school 
reports  that  we  have.  The  superintendent  of  the  city  of 
Taunton,  Massachusetts,  in  a  recent  report  reproduced  this 
interesting  historical  document,  of  which  we  may  quote  cer- 
tain sections  in  order  to  show  the  kind  of  school  organization 
which  prevailed  at  that  date. 

REPORT  OF  THE  VISITING  COMMITTEE  OF  TAUNTON 
IN  1801 

The  committee  chosen  by  the  town  to  inspect  the  schools  beg 
leave  to  report  their  situation  and  examination.  .  .  . 

January  6th,  1801.  Your  committee  visited  a  school  kept  in 
Rueben  Richmond's  house  instructed  by  Mrs.  Nabby  Williams  of 
32  scholars.  This  school  appeared  in  an  uncultivated  state  the 
greater  part  of  the  scholars. 

On  the  26  of  Feb.,  visited  Mrs.  Nabby  Williams'  school  the 
second  time  and  found  that  the  scholars  had  made  great  proficiency 
in  reading,  spelling,  writing  and  some  in  the  grammar  of  the 
English  language. 

Nov.  loth,  the  committee  visited  and  examined  two  Schools 
just  opened ;  one  kept  in  a  school  house,  near  Baylies  works,  of 
the  number  of  40  scholars,  instructed  by  Mr.  Philip  Lee.  This 
School  we  found  to  have  made  but  small  proficiency  in  reading, 
spelling  and  writing,  and  to  be  kept  only  six  or  seven  weeks  ; 
upon  inquiry  why  it  should  be  taught  no  longer,  we  were  informed 
that  the  ratio  of  school  money  for  this  School  was  and  had  been 
usually  expended  in  paying  the  Master  both  for  his  service  and 
board,  and  in  purchasing  the  fire  wood  which  is  contrary  to  the 
usual  custom  of  the  town. 

The  other  School,  visited  the  same  day,  was  kept  near  John 
Reed's  consisting  of  the  number  of  between  30  and  40  Scholars 
instructed  by  Mr.  William  Reed ;  This  School,  being  formed  into 
regular  classes,  appeared  to  have  made  a  good  and  pleasing 
proficiency  in  reading,  spelling,  writing,  some  in  arithmetic  and 
others  in  the  Grammar  of  the  English  language.  This  School's 


SCHOOLS  OF  OTHER  COUNTRIES  21 

share  of  school  money  is  expended  to  .pay  the  Master  for  his 
service  only,  so  that  the  School  will  be  continued  three  months. 

On  the  8th  day  of  December  they  visited  a  School  kept  in  a 
School  house  near  Seth  Hodges,  in  number  30  Scholars  instructed 
by  Mr.  John  Dunbar.  This  School  appeared  in  a  good  way  of 
learning,  and  to  be  keep  four  months. 

On  the  22nd  of  December  your  Committee  visited  two  more 
Schools  just  opened,  one  in  a  School  house  near  Samuel  Pett's  of 
the  number  of  40  scholars  instructed  by  Mr.  Rufus  Dean,  and  to 
be  kept  three  month.  This  School  appeared  to  be  in  a  promising 
way  of  learning  in  reading  spelling  and  writing  and  to  be  regularly 
taught. 

The  other  School  is  kept  in  the  home  of  Mr.  Paul  Chase  and 
taught  by  Mr.  Nicolas  Stephens,  consisting  of  30  Scholars,  and 
appears  quite  in  a  good  way  of  learning  especially  in  Spelling  for 
scarcely  a  word  passed  a  scholar  misspelled,  in  writing  some  did 
very  well  and  others  in  arithmetic  appeared  attentive. 

January  8th,  1801  visited  two  Schools  for  the  first  time,  one  in 
the  home  of  Mr.  William  Hodges  of  the  number  of  37  Scholars, 
instructed  by  Mr.  Lovet  Tisdale,  the  other  in  the  home  of 
Mr.  Daniel  Burt,  of  the  number  of  25  Scholars,  instructed  by 
Mr.  Benjamin  Tubbs.  These  Schools  appeared  in  good  order  and 
attentive  to  their  learning. 

Feby.  26th,  visited  Mr.  Dean's  School  2  time,  the  Scholars  were 
crowded  into  a  small  room,  the  air  was  exceedingly  noxcious. 
Many  children  were  obliged  to  tarry  at  home  for  want  of  room 
and  though  the  school  was  kept  only  a  few  weeks  they  were 
deprived  of  its  advantages.  A  want  of  books  was  the  complaint. 
The  committee  were  anxiously  desirous  that  this  evil  might  have 
a  remedy  and  were  of  opinion  it  may  be  easily  done.  The  Scholars 
appeared  to  increase  in  knowledge  &  claim  our  approbation. 

March  5th,  visited  two  schools,  one  kept  at  Mr.  Aaron  Pratt's 
of  the  number  of  30  scholars  instructed  by  Mr.  Philip  Drown. 
This  school  appeared  quite  unimproved  and  uncultivated  in  read- 
ing and  spelling,  some  of  them  did  better  in  writing.  This 
uncultivated  state  did  not  appear  to  be  from  a  fault  in  the  children 


22       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

but,  as  your  committee  were  informed,  from  the  disadvantage  of 
having  had  masters  illegally  qualified  for  their  instruction  ;  of  which 
class  is  their  present  master  unauthorized  by  law.1 

The  situation  here  described  was  typical  of  all  the  settled 
towns.  How  much  worse  it  was  in  sparsely  settled  districts 
one  can  easily  imagine.  Briefly  put,  one  can  say  that  up 
to  1830  schools  throughout  the  country  held  short  sessions 
in  the  middle  of  the  winter  when  the  pupils  were  otherwise 
unoccupied  with  home  demands.  There  was  no  supervision 
except  by  visiting  committees,  no  course  of  study,  little  or  no 
material  equipment,  and  small  outlook  for  a  higher  education. 

ADOPTION  OF  THE  GERMAN  MODEL 

During  the  decade  1 830-1 840  there  was  an  effort,  especially 
in  Massachusetts  under  the  leadership  of  Horace  Mann 
and  in  Michigan  under  John  Pierce,  to  improve  the  common 
schools.  In  an  illuminating  historical  treatise  on  this  subject 
Mr.  F.  F.  Bunker  has  reproduced  some  of  the  evidences 
that  the  changes  made  at  that  time  in  the  schools  of  America 
were  largely  influenced  by  German  models.  The  following 
quotations  indicate  how  the  movement  began  : 

Charles  Brooks,  a  man  whose  influence  in  Massachusetts  was 
great,  and  who  may  be  said  to  have  prepared  the  way  for  the 
work  of  Horace  Mann,  did  very  much  to  disseminate  knowledge 
respecting  the  Prussian  system.  He  was  primarily  interested  in 
establishing  a  normal  school  after  the  Prussian  model,  yet,  during 
the  campaign  which  he  carried  on  for  this  purpose  between  the 
years  1835  anc^  l&3&  he  did  not  limit  himself  to  the  consideration 
of  the  normal  school  alone,  but  sought  to  acquaint  the  people  with 
the  details  of  the  German  system  of  elementary  education  as  well. 
His  account  of  the  return  trip  from  England,  which  he  made  in 
company  with  Dr.  H.  Julius,  of  Hamburg,  indicates  the  esteem 
in  which  he  held  the  Prussian  system : 

1  Reprinted  in  the  Report  of  the  School  Committee  of  the  City  of  Taunton, 
Massachusetts,  for  the  Year  Ending  December  31,  1915,  pp.  68-73. 


SCHOOLS  OF  OTHER  COUNTRIES  23 

A  passage  of  41  days  from  Liverpool  to  New  York  (with  Dr.  Julius) 
gave  me  time  to  ask  all  manner  of  questions  concerning  the  noble, 
philosophical,  and  practical  system  of  Prussian  elementary  education. 
He  explained  it  like  a  sound  scholar  and  a  pious  Christian.  If  you  will 
allow  the  phrase,  I  fell  in  love  with  the  Prussian  system,  and  it  seemed 
to  possess  me  like  a  missionary  angel. 

Just  at  the  time  that  Charles  Brooks  was  laboring  so  diligently 
to  incorporate  in  the  Massachusetts  system  the  results  of  Prussian 
experience,  another  man,  John  D.  Pierce,  in  Michigan,  also  an 
enthusiastic  believer  in  the  preeminence  of  the  Prussian  organiza- 
tion, was  laying  the  foundation  for  an  educational  system  in  his 
own  State  and  buildingl^^to  it  the  best  features  of  Prussian 
practice.  It  was  mainly  beca^^fcf  his  suggestions  to  the  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  educatiorW^te  convention  that  framed  the 
State  government  in  1835  that  t^  article  in  the  constitution 
respecting  education  was  framed  and  provision  made  for  the  office 
of  superintendent  of  public  instruction.  Mr.  Pierce  was  appointed 
to  the  superintendency  in  1836  and  at  once  began  the  work  of 
preparing  a  plan  for  a  complete  school  system. 

Before  framing  his  recommendations,  which  were  submitted  in 
1837  and  which  were  approved  for  the  most  part,  he  visited  the 
schools  of  New  England,  New  York,  and  New  Jersey.  Prior  to 
this,  however,  he  had  learned  of  the  Prussian  system  through  an 
English  translation  of  Cousin's  report  This  report  of  Cousin's 
was  first  made  known  to  the  English-speaking  people  by  Sir 
William  Hamilton,  who,  in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  July,  1833, 
commended  the  report  highly  and  quoted  at  considerable  length 
therefrom.  The  next  year  (1834)  that  part  of  the  report  which 
treated  of  Prussian  practice  was  translated  into  English  by  Mrs. 
Sarah  Austin  and  appeared  in  London.  A  New  York  edition  of 
the  same  translation  was  issued  in  1835  and  widely  distributed. 
It  was  a  copy  of  this  edition  which,  falling  into  Mr.  Pierce 's 
hands,  profoundly  influenced  him  in  framing  the  system  he  later 
submitted  to  the  Michigan  Legislature.  In  describing  his  entrance 
into  public  life  Mr.  Pierce  speaks  of  this  circumstance : 

About  this  time  (1835)  Cousin's  report  of  the  Prussian  system,  made 
to  the  French  minister  of  public  instruction,  came  into  my  hands  and  it 


24       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

was  read  with  much  interest.  Sitting  one  pleasant  afternoon  upon  a  log 
on  the  hill  north  of  where  the  courthouse  at  Marshall  now  stands,  Gen. 
Crary  (chairman  of  the  convention  committee  on  education)  and  myself 
discussed  for  a  long  time  the  fundamental  principles  which  were  deemed 
important  for  the  convention  to  adopt  in  laying  the  foundations  of  our 
State.  The  subject  of  education  was  a  theme  of  special  interest.  It  was 
agreed,  if  possible,  that  it  should  make  a  distinct  branch  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  that  the  constitution  ought  to  provide  for  an  officer  who 
should  have  this  whole  matter  in  charge  and  thus  keep  its  importance 
perpetually  before  the  public  mind. 

Mr.  Pierce's  indebtedness  to  Prussia  for  many  of  the  ideas 
which  he  worked  out  in  the  system  which  he  organized  is  thus  set 
forth  by  a  later  superintendent  of  the  Michigan  system,  Francis 
W.  Shearman,  who,  writing  in  1852,  said : 

The  system  of  public  instruction  which  was  intended  to  be  established 
by  the  framers  of  the  constitution  (Michigan),  the  conception  of  the 
office,  its  province,  its  powers,  and  duties  were  derived  from  Prussia.1 .  .  . 

RESULTS  OF  THE  ADOPTION  OF  THE  GERMAN  EXAMPLE 

It  is  a  striking  fact  that  all  this  borrowing  had  to  do 
with  the  common  school.  Nor  was  it  inappropriate  at  that 
period  that  emphasis  should  be  on  the  school  for  the  com- 
mon people.  In  the  young  states  there  was  relatively  little 
higher  education,  and  the  need  was  great  for  an  improve- 
ment of  the  common  schools. 

The  consequences  of  this  borrowing  were  momentous  for 
our  history.  There  are  two  characteristics  which  our  Amer- 
ican schools  of  elementary  grade  took  on  in  imitation  of 
the  German  model,  which  characteristics  have  determined 
in  large  measure  their  subsequent  development  down  to  the 
present.  In  the  first  place,  the  German  common  school 
was  strictly  a  vernacular  school,  and,  in  the  second  place,  it 
dealt  only  with  rudimentary  subjects.  The  Gymnasium,  or 
the  school  for  the  aristocracy,  was  not  a  vernacular  school. 

1  Frank  Forest  Bunker,  "Reorganization  of  the  Public  School  System," 
in  Bulletin  No.  8,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  1916,  pp.  21-23. 


SCHOOLS  OF  OTHER  COUNTRIES  25 

Latin  and  Greek  and  modern  foreign  languages  were  taught 
in  even  the  lower  grades  of  the  Gymnasium.  Furthermore, 
the  Gymnasium  alone  taught  such  "  higher  "  subjects  as  the 
higher  mathematics,  while  the  common  school  confined  itself 
exclusively  to  arithmetic  as  the  rudimentary  branch  of  math- 
ematics. In  point  of  time  the  German  Volksschule,  as  noted 
above,  conducted  a  course  eight  years  in  length.  The  pupils 
completed  this  course  at  fourteen  years  of  age,  when  they 
were  confirmed  in  the  Church. 

The  common  school  was  the  institution  which  America 
borrowed  in  1830-1840.  The  common  school  was  set  up  in 
the  United  States  as  an  eight-year  school  devoted  exclusively 
to  the  vernacular  and  to  rudimentary  subjects.  But  the 
American  system  developed.  The  length  of  the  school 
year  increased,  and  the  number  of  pupils  who  are  am- 
bitious to  go  on  into  the  higher  schools  has  enormously 
increased.  In  1917  we  were  told  by  the  .Commissioner  of 
Education  of  the  United  States  that  more  than  1,300,000 
of  the  young  people  in  this  country  were  in  the  high  schools. 
Even  now,  however,  the  eight-year  vernacular  rudimentary 
school  of  Germany  has  its  stamp  on  our  American  life. 
As  a  rule  our  American  schools  do  not  permit  a  pupil  to 
study  foreign  languages  in  the  lower  school,  even  when  we 
know  that  he  is  going  on  to  high  school.  The  general 
exclusion  of  languages  is  due  to  the  tradition  that  the  ele- 
mentary school  is  a  vernacular  school,  not  to  inability  on 
the  part  of  pupils  to  learn  languages.  We  will  not  permit 
algebra  to  be  taught  in  the  elementary  school,  because 
algebra  is  not  a  rudimentary  subject.  To  be  sure,  we  have 
had  a  hard  time  trying  to  keep  arithmetic  in  its  position 
of  exclusive  domination  of  the  elementary  course.  We  have 
grafted  into  the  arithmetic  all  kinds  of  economic  informa- 
tion about  insurance  and  banks  and  foreign  exchange.  We 
have  exercised  our  ingenuity  to  the  limit  in  inventing 
examples  of  a  complicated  sort  in  order  to  keep  the  pupils 


26       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

in  the  upper  grades  at  work  in  arithmetic.  But  through  it 
all  we  have  been  kept  from  a  rational  development  by  ad- 
herence to  the  tradition  of  the  German  common  school, 
—  the  tradition  which  treats  higher  subjects  as  the  exclusive 
property  of  the  aristocracy. 

THE  REORGANIZATION  OF  AMERICAN  SCHOOLS 

The  day  of  reform  is,  however,  at  hand.  Social  pressure 
has  gradually  been  making  it  evident  to  all  that  in  America 
the  elementary  school  cannot  be  a  caste  school.  The  people 
are  demanding  that  pupils  who  are  to  have  only  a  limited 
schooling  be  admitted  to  some  of  the  higher  subjects.  Fur- 
thermore, there  are  enough  pupils  who  go  on  into  the  high 
school  to  make  it  evident  that  the  American  scheme  should 
be  organized  not  with  a  view  to  distinguishing  between  the 
elementary  school  and  the  high  school,  but  with  a  view  to 
combining  the  two  into  a  continuous  institution. 

Within  the  last  five  years  there  has  spread  rapidly  a 
movement  known  as  the  junior-high-school  movement,  or 
the  intermediate-school  movement.  This  is  essentially  a  re- 
form of  the  seventh,  eighth,  and  ninth  grades,  and  consists, 
first  of  all,  in  the  introduction  into  the  course  of  study  of 
material  which  formerly  belonged  to  the  high  school.  In 
the  second  place,  this  movement  recognizes  the  maturity  of 
pupils  in  a  variety  of  ways.  It  adopts  a  form  of  discipline 
which  throws  responsibility  on  them.  It  departmentalizes 
the  teaching  and  offers  electives,  thus  securing  the  advan- 
tages of  specialization.  The  movement  promises  to  reor- 
ganize our  whole  school  system  in  such  a  way  as  to  give 
us  a  new  kind  of  national  education.  America  has  at  the 
present  moment  a  closer  approximation  to  a  continuous 
educational  ladder  than  any  other  country,  but  the  ladder 
needs  a  little  splicing.  With  the  present  enthusiasm  for 
national  development  the  splicing  is  likely  to  be  facilitated. 


SCHOOLS  OF  OTHER  COUNTRIES  27 

Q    ORIGIN  OF  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL 

The  foregoing  statements  extracted  from  the  history  of 
the  elementary  school  may  be  supplemented  by  references 
to  the  history  of  the  high  school.  The  first  schools  of 
secondary  grade  in  this  country  were  patterned  after  the 
classical  secondary  schools  of  England.  The  Boston  Latin 
School  and  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School  of  New  Haven 
are  examples  of  early  foundations  of  the  kind  in  question. 
These  schools  were  vestibules  to  the  colleges,  and  the  boys 
who  attended  them  —  for  they  were  schools  for  boys  — 
were  looking  forward  to  one  of  the  learned  professions, 
usually,  in  the  early  days,  to  the  clergy. 

The  Latin  school  charged  tuition,  as  do  all  the  European 
secondary  schools  to-day.  It  was  an  exclusive  school.  It 
was  not  a  part  of  the  popular  movement  toward  general  edu- 
cation. In  an  important  sense  it  was  a  vocational  school 
and  illustrates  the  general  fact  of  history  that  higher  schools 
always  had  a  vocational  motive  back  of  their  organization, 
whereas  the  people's  schools  of  elementary  grade  were  at 
first  always  missionary  enterprises  intended  to  spread  religious 
training  rather  than  vocational  training. 

Parallel  with  the  Latin  school  and  growing  out  of  an 
entirely  different  motive  was  another  institution  which  was 
very  much  more  genuinely  American  in  its  character.  This 
was  the  academy.  The  academy  was  often  a  boarding 
school  to  which  boys  and  girls  alike  went  for  an  extension 
of  their  education.  Later  the  village  in  which  the  academy 
was  situated  took  it  over  or  made  arrangements  to  pay  for 
all  the  pupils,  and  it  became  a  free  academy. 

There  were  some  other  experiments  in  the  extension  of 
school  opportunities.  In  New  England,  the  oldest  and 
economically  most  forward  section  of  the  country,  a  ninth 
grade  was  added  to  the  elementary  schwl.  There  arc 
to-day  in  Maine,  and  to  some  extent  in  other  New  England 


28       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

states,  elementary  schools  with  a  nine-year  course.  But  the 
ninth  grade  never  succeeded.  It  was  cramped  by  the  German 
definition  of  the  elementary  school  as  a  vernacular  and  rudi- 
mentary school.  To  try  to  spend  nine  years  rather  than  eight 
on  the  three  R's  was  not  productive.  The  academy,  on  the 
other  hand,  knew  no  limits  of  this  kind.  It  reveled  in  such 
subjects  as  French  and  music  and  literature  and  history. 

At  last  the  Latin  school  and  the  academy  fused  in  the 
American  high  school,  and  the  high  school  took  its  place 
at  the  end  of  the  elementary-school  course.  The  influence 
of  the  academy  in  determining  this  form  of  organization 
was  very  great,  for  the  academy  was  from  the  first  connected 
with  the  elementary  school,  while  the  Latin  school  was  in  its 
early  days  an  institution  quite  separate  from  the  common 
school  both  in  its  organization  and  purpose. 

EDUCATION  OF  GIRLS 

These  sketches  of  school  history  could  be  supplemented 
by  other  discussions.  Perhaps  it  will  be  well  to  comment 
briefly  on  the  unique  American  attitude  toward  the  educa- 
tion of  girls.  In  Europe  girls  have  only  very  recently  been 
given  opportunities  of  higher  education,  and  even  now  the 
opportunity  is  limited  to  the  few.  We  have  undoubtedly 
made  the  mistake  in  this  country,  in  our  enthusiasm  for 
equality  of  opportunity,  of  administering  to  girls  a  course 
of  study  originally  designed  for  their  brothers.  In  due  time 
we  shall  learn  how  to  give  to  girls  an  education  suited  to 
their  needs,  but  there  can  never  be  any  question  among  us 
about  the  wisdom  of  a  higher  education  for  women. 

HIGHER  EDUCATION  FREE 

It  has  also  been  noted  incidentally  that  with  us  all  edu- 
cation is  free.  This  has  not  been  attained  without  much 
discussion  and  much  legislation.  We  shall  later  have  an 


SCHOOLS  OF  OTHER  COUNTRIES  29 

opportunity  to  treat  more  at  length  the  fiscal  policies  of 
American  schools.  At  this  point  it  is  enough  to  note  that 
American  schools  are  what  they  are  because  they  are  free. 
An  interesting  contrast  can  be  drawn  here  between  the 
practice  in  England  and  in  the  United  States.  In  England 
vast  sums  of  money  make  a  free  education  accessible  to 
certain  selected  individuals.  The  higher  schools  are  not  free 
to  all  comers,  as  ours  are,  but  a  bright  boy  —  it  is  usually 
only  the  boy  —  who  can  pass  a  competitive  examination  is 
given  a  stipend,  which  provides  his  tuition  and  often  enough 
more  to  get  books  and,  if  necessary,  pay  for  transportation. 
The  English  theory  is  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  public  to  pay 
for  selected  boys,  but  not  for  boys  in  general.  To  the  Ameri- 
can it  seems  a  little  hazardous  to  select  the  leaders  of  the 
nation  by  competitive  examinations  given  to  eleven-year-old 
boys.  On  the  other  hand,  the  English  think  of  our  plan 
as  wasteful  because  we  postpone  selection  longer  than  they 
think  we  should.  The  contrast  here  pointed  out  is  enough  to 
draw  our  attention  to  the  unique  attitude  of  American  schools, 
which  are  free  to  all  and  in  this  sense  far  more  democratic 
than  the  higher  schools  of  any  European  country. 

AMERICAN  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  SECULAR 

Finally,  we  may  point  out  that  our  schools  are  secular. 
Some  of  our  own  fellow  countrymen  do  not  believe  in 
secular  schools.  We  are  familiar  with  the  practice  of  organ- 
izing parochial  schools.  France  and  England  have  in  recent 
years  purchased  secularization  of  their  schools  after  long  and 
bitter  controversy.  Germany  gives  instruction  in  religion 
as  an  important  part  of  every  course  of  study.  In  some 
sections  of  Germany  the  distinction  between  religious  beliefs 
is  carried  into  the  school  organization  in  such  a  way  that 
one  finds  public  schools  set  aside  for  the  children  of  this 
and  that  sect.  In  all  schools  the  pupil  has  a  right  to 
instruction  in  his  own  particular  type  of  religion. 


30       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

In  the  United  States  the  complete  democratization  of  the 
schools  has  been  possible  because  differences  in  religion  have 
been  rigidly  excluded.  There  is  a  common  body  of  knowl- 
edge which  can  be  administered  in  public  schools  without 
involving  religion.  The  decision  for  such  a  separation  was 
made  long  ago  in  this  country  and  is  one  of  the  characteristic 
facts  in  our  school  system  as  well  as  in  our  general  civic  life. 

THE  SCHOOL  SYSTEM  AND  ITS  DOMINATION  OF  THE 
TEACHER 

The  facts  outlined  in  this  chapter  ought  to  create  in  the 
mind  of  the  reader  a  vivid  notion  of  what  is  meant  by 
the  words  "  school  system."  The  schools  of  America  or  any 
other  country  have  a  kind  of  colossal  personality.  The 
teacher  who  teaches  a  fifth  grade  or  a  sixth  grade  or  a 
high-school  class  does  not  determine  the  character  of  the 
education  given  at  these  points  in  the  system.  To  be  sure, 
the  teacher  can  do  his  or  her  work  effectively  or  inefficiently. 
The  special  methods  employed  may  be  well  or  ill  adapted 
to  their  ends.  But  above  and  beyond  the  individual  teacher 
is  the  system  which  controls  the  pupil's  progress  in  many 
subtle  ways  and  determines  all  the  main  lines  of  his  train- 
ing. The  teacher  who  would  succeed  must  understand  this 
larger  influence.  Especially  is  it  necessary  that  the  teacher 
who  aims  to  contribute  to  the  rational  development  of  the 
system  through  the  scientific  study  of  detailed  problems 
become  acquainted  with  the  present  characteristics  of  the 
system  and  comprehend  something  of  the  conditions  which 
have  produced  these  characteristics. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

Among  textbooks  there  are  such  striking  differences  that  the 
student  will  be  able  after  even  a  superficial  analysis  to  see  that 
their  authors  had  very  different  ideas  about  the  use  of  texts.  Find 


SCHOOLS  OF  OTHER  COUNTRIES  31 

a  textbook  which  is  intended  to  give  the  pupil  a  start  in  a  study 
rather  than  a  complete  discussion  of  the  subject.  Find  a  text 
which  is  intended  to  be  learned  rather  than  merely  read.  What 
parts  of  a  textbook  are  addressed  to  the  teacher  and  constitute 
teaching  devices  rather  than  material  for  students  ? 

Contrast  the  ways  in  which  different  teachers  use  textbooks.  Are 
there  teachers  who  neglect  the  book  very  largely  ?  When  should 
a  teacher  .lecture  ?  Find  specific  examples  of  lessons  which  can 
best  be  taught  (i)  by  questions  and  answers,  (2)  by  written  work, 
and  (3)  by  lectures. 

With  regard  to  a  given  high  school  it  is  important  to  find  out 
when  it  was  established.  What  was  its  first  course  of  study  ? 

With  regard  to  courses  for  girls,  it  is  interesting  to  inquire 
how  far  classes  in  an  elective  system  are  chosen  by  boys  and 
how  far  by  girls.  Why  are  conditions  as  they  are? 

The  foregoing  questions  are  asked  on  the  assumption  that  the 
contrasts  presented  in  the  chapter  are  of  value  only  when  they 
make  students  keenly  aware  of  the  facts  in  their  own  environ- 
ment. The  facts  of  history  are  valuable  chiefly  because  of  the 
light  they  throw  on  the  present. 

BROWN,  E.  E.  Making  of  our  Middle  Schools.  Longmans,  Green,  & 
Co.  This  is  the  only  history  of  American  secondary  schools. 

BUNKER,  F.  F.  "  Reorganization  of  the  Public  School  System,"  in  Bul- 
letin No.  8,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  1916.  This  shows 
how  our  present  school  system  was  organized. 

FAKRINGTON,  F.  E.  French  Secondary  Schools.  Longmans,  Green,  &  Co. 

FARRINOTON,  F.  E.  The  Public  Primary  School  System  of  France. 
Teachers  College. 

JUDD,  C.  H.  "The  Training  of  Teachers  in  England,  Scotland,  and 
Germany,"  in  Bulletin  No.  jj,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education, 
1914. 

MONROK,  W.  S.  "  Development  of  Arithmetic  as  a  School  Subject,"  in 
Bulletin  No.  to,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  1917.  This 
bulletin  tells  of  the  origin  of  the  present  methods  of  teaching 
arithmetic. 

PARKER,  S.  C.  The  History  of  Modern  Elementary  Education.  Ginn 
and  Company.  This  is  a  very  good  summary  of  the  facts  regarding 
the  development  of  American  schools. 


CHAPTER  III 

EDUCATION  AS  A  PUBLIC  NECESSITY 
THE  PRIMITIVE  ATTITUDE  ONE  OF  NEGLECT 

One  does  not  have  to  go  far  from  the  door  of  any  edu- 
cational institution  to  find  people  who  look  on  reading  and 
writing  —  to  say  nothing  of  higher  forms  of  education  —  as 
luxuries  rather  than  necessities.  There  is  the  parent  who 
is  willing  to  take  his  child  out  of  school  for  the  sake  of  the 
wage  which  the  child  can  earn.  There  is  the  negligent 
parent,  often  himself  illiterate,  who  is  utterly  unconcerned 
about  the  education  of  his  sons  and  daughters.  Another 
kind  of  example  appears  in  the  boy  or  girl  who  goes  out 
into  the  trades  after  a  limited  schooling  and  fails  to  keep 
up  the  type  of  intellectual  activity  which  was  cultivated  in 
the  school.  Many  a  child  who  has  been  taught  through 
years  of  instruction  how  to  read  makes  very  little  use  of 
his  training  in  mature  life. 

An  appeal  to  the  history  of  civilization  reveals  the  fact 
that  there  was  a  time  when  the  opinion  prevailed  that  edu- 
cation was  unnecessary  for  the  common  man.  The  earliest 
schools  were  for  the  aristocracy  and  for  the  professional 
classes.  Schools  for  all  the  people  are  of  comparatively 
recent  date. 

COMPULSORY  EDUCATION 

In  striking  contrast  with  this  attitude  of  neglect  and 
indifference  is  the  fact  that  to-day  there  are  laws  in  all  the 
civilized  countries  of  the  world  compelling  children  of  every 
social  grade  to  attend  school.  Society  as  a  whole  does  not 

32 


EDUCATION  AS  A  PUBLIC  NECESSITY          33 

share  the  slight  esteem  of  reading  exhibited  by  the  man  who 
takes  his  child  out  of  school.  Indeed,  society  has  gone  so 
far  as  to  set  aside  that  man's  judgment  and  to  assume  con- 
trol of  the  child  to  the  extent  of  insisting  that  the  rudiments 
of  an  education  shall  be  made  universal. 

Society  still  leaves  it  to  the  individual  to  decide  whether 
he  is  to  study  higher  branches.  One  may  take  algebra  or 
not  as  one  elects,  but  not  so  with  arithmetic.  The  common 
interests  of  our  common  life  dictate  that  everyone  shall  be 
able  to  count  and  to  make  accurate  numerical  statements. 
People  must  know  some  arithmetic ;  they  must  be  able  to 
read,  or  they  are  a  menace  to  public  comfort  and  safety. 

COMPULSION  OF  COMMUNITIES 

The  full  acknowledgment  of  the  fact  that  education  is  a 
public  necessity  has  developed  gradually.  History  shows  us 
the  steps  by  which  this  fact  has  been  recognized  in  legisla- 
tive action.  The  first  step  was  the  adoption  of  laws  requir- 
ing communities  to  provide  schools.  We  may  put  the  matter 
in  terms  of  contemporary  conditions  by  referring  to  commu- 
nities which  would  to-day  be  backward  in  this  matter  if  it 
were  not  for  state  control.  Thus  there  are  sparsely  settled 
districts  or  poor  districts  which  cannot  afford  good  schools, 
or,  indeed,  any  kind  of  a  school.  The  state  is  vitally  inter- 
ested in  seeing  to  it  that  the  untoward  conditions  in  these 
regions  do  not  deprive  the  children  of  an  education.  In  the 
later  years  of  their  lives  the  children  from  these  districts 
will  surely  scatter  to  other  parts  of  the  state.  They  will 
be  less  productive  than  they  would  have  been  if  they  had 
been  educated.  It  is  much  more  economical  for  the  state 
as  a  whole  to  take  a  hand  in  the  training  of  the  children 
than  to  have  to  support  even  a  small  number  of  dependent 
adults  during  the  unproductive  period  of  later  life  when  the 
consequences  of  poor  schooling  appear. 


34       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

In  some  cases  the  delinquency  of  a  community  is  due  not 
to  economic  stress  but  to  shortsighted  frugality.  Here  again 
the  higher  authority  of  the  larger  community  must  take  con- 
trol and  force  the  backward  group  to  give  the  children  such 
training  as  will  bring  them  to  reasonable  productivity. 

The  earliest  legislation  on  this  matter  is  of  the  type  which 
was  quoted  in  the  last  chapter,  where  reference  was  made  to 
the  Connecticut  law  of  1650.  Such  legislation  was  addressed 
to  the  community  and  enjoined  on  it  the  obligation  to  pro- 
vide schools. 

LATER  STAGES  OF  COMPULSORY  LEGISLATION 

Such  compulsion  of  the  community  was  followed,  but  at 
a  much  later  date,  by  legislation  compelling  the  child  to 
attend  school ;  and  finally  the  period  was  reached  in  the  midst 
of  which  we  live  to-day,  when  the  state  is  taking  a  hand  in 
the  supervision  of  schools  for  the  purpose  of  insuring  as 
high  and  as  uniform  a  grade  of  education  as  it  can  afford. 

AMERICAN  EDUCATION  TO  1850 

The  first  period  of  our  national  life,  during  which  we  were 
very  gradually  evolving  the  conception  of  a  need  for  public 
education  and  were  setting  up  the  requirement  of  schools  in 
every  community,  extended  down  to  the  decade  before  the 
Civil  War.  Professor  Cubberley  has  given  a  very  illuminat- 
ing description  of  this  period,  from  which  we  may  quote 
the  following  extracts  : 

During  the  early  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century,  schools  and 
the  means  of  education  made  little  progress.  There  were  among 
the  founders  of  our  states  certain  far-seeing  men  who  wished  for 
general  public  education,  but  it  was  well  along  toward  the  middle 
of  the  century  before  these  men  represented  more  than  a  hopeful 
minority  in  most  of  our  states,  and  in  the  South  little  was  done 
until  after  the  Civil  War.  . 


EDUCATION  AS  A  PUBLIC  NECESSITY          35 

To  be  illiterate  was  no  reproach,  and  it  was  possible  to  follow 
many  pursuits  successfully  without  having  received  any  other 
education  than  the  education  of  daily  work  and  experience.  A 
large  proportion  of  the  people  felt  that  those  who  desired  an 
education  should  pay  for  it.  As  the  Rhode  Island  farmer  expressed 
it  to  Henry  Barnard  in  1844,  it  would  be  as  sensible  to  propose 
to  take  his  plough  away  from  him  to  plough  his  neighbor's  field  as 
to  take  his  money  to  educate  his  neighbor's  child.  Others  felt  that 
at  most  free  education  should  be  extended  only  to  the  children  of 
the  poor,  and  for  the  rudiments  of  learning  only.  Still  others  felt 
that  all  forms  of  education  would  be  conducted  best  if  turned  over 
to  the  various  religious  and  educational  societies  of  the  time.  A 
system  of  public  instruction  maintained  by  general  taxation,  such 
as  we  to-day  enjoy,  would  not  only  have  been  declared  unnecessary, 
but  would  have  been  stoutly  resisted  as  well.  The  best  schools, 
and  often  the  only  schools,  were  private  schools  supported  by  the 
tuition  fees  of  those  who  could  afford  to  use  them,  and  most  of 
these  were  more  or  less  directly  under  church  control. 

Not  until  after  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  was 
education  regarded  at  all  as  a  legitimate  public  function.  .  .  . 

The  different  humanitarian  movements  which  arose  after  1820, 
and  which,  among  other  things,  demanded  public  tax-supported 
schools  for  all,  had  not  as  yet  made  themselves  felt.  The  people 
were  poor,  and  indifferent  as  to  education. 

Gradually,  and  only  after  great  effort,  this  condition  of  apathy 
and  indifference  was  changed  to  one  of  active  interest,  though  the 
change  took  place  but  slowly,  and  differed  in  point  of  time  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  country.  The  Lancastrian  system  of  monitorial 
instruction  (by  which  a  single  teacher  with  the  assistance  of  his 
best  students,  called  monitors,  taught  hundreds  of  pupils),  intro- 
duced into  this  country  from  England  about  1806,  for  the  first 
time  made  an  elementary  school  training  for  all  seem  possible, 
from  a  financial  point  of  view.  .  .  . 

The  idea  that  free  education  was  a  right,  and  that  universal 
education  was  a  necessity,  began  to  be  urged  and  to  find  accept- 
ance. The  land  grants  of  Congress  to  the  new  states  for  the 
benefit  of  common  schools  greatly  stimulated  the  movement.  The 
published  reports  of  those  who  had  visited  IVstalozzi's  school  in 


36       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

Switzerland,  and  had  examined  the  new  state  school  system  in 
Prussia,  were  extensively  read.  The  moral  and  economic  advan- 
tages of  schools  were  set  forth  at  length  in  resolutions,  speeches, 
pamphlets,  magazines,  and  books. 

Just  when  this  change  took  place  cannot  be  definitely  stated. 
Roughly  speaking,  it  began  about  1825  and  was  accomplished  by 
1850  in  the  Northern  states.  It  was  a  gradual  change  rather  than 
a  sudden  one,  though  rapid  advances  were  at  times  made.  The 
movement  everywhere  was  greatly  stimulated  by  the  educational 
revival  inaugurated  by  Horace  Mann  in  Massachusetts  in  1837. 
In  the  Southern  states,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  little  was 
accomplished  until  after  the  Civil  War  and  the  Reconstruction 
Period  were  over.  Almost  everywhere  it  took  place  only  after 
prolonged  agitation,  and  ofttimes  only  after  a  bitter  struggle.  The 
indifference  of  legislatures,  the  unwillingness  of  taxpayers  to  assume 
the  burdens  of  general  taxation,  the  small  sense  of  local  responsi- 
bility, the  satisfaction  with  existing  conditions,  the  old  aristocratic 
conception  of  education,  the  pauper  and  charity-school  idea,  and 
frequently  the  opposition  of  denominational  and  private  schools,  — 
all  of  these  had  to  be  met  and  overcome.  The  referendum  was 
tried  in  a  number  of  states,  and  sometimes  more  than  once ;  in 
others,  the  question  of  free  schools  became  a  vital  political  issue.  .  . . 

By  1850,  the  principle  of  tax-supported  schools  had  been 
generally  accepted  in  all  of  the  Northern  states,  and  the  beginnings 
of  free  schools  made  in  some  of  the  Southern  states.  Six  state 
normal  schools  had  been  established,  a  number  of  states  had  pro- 
vided for  State  Superintendents  of  Common  Schools  and  for  ex- 
officio  State  Boards  of  Education,  and  the  movement  for  state 
control  of  education  had  begun.  It  may  be  said  that  it  had  not 
become  a  settled  conviction  with  a  majority  of  the  people  that  the 
provision  of  some  form  of  free  education  was  a  duty  of  the  state, 
and  that  such  education  contributed  in  a  general  way,  though  just 
how  was  not  at  that  time  clear,  to  the  moral  uplift  of  the  people, 
to  a  higher  civic  virtue,  and  to  increased  economic  returns  to  the 
state.  A  new  conception  of  free  public  education  as  a  birthright  of 
the  child  on  the  one  hand,  and  as  an  exercise  of  the  state's  inherent 
right  to  self-preservation  and  improvement  on  the  other,  had  taken 


EDUCATION  AS  A  PUBLIC  NECESSITY          37 

the  place  of  the  earlier  conception  of  schools  as  merely  a  coopera- 
tive effort,  based  on  economy,  and  for  the  instruction  of  youth 
merely  in  the  rudiments  of  learning.1 

COMPULSORY  ATTENDANCE 

The  second  stage  in  the  development  of  a  public  educa- 
tional system  was  reached  when  the  states  began  to  see 
that  children  must  be  compelled  to  go  to  school.  In  1852 
Massachusetts  passed  the  first  compulsory-education  law. 
In  1864  the  District  of  Columbia  followed.  In  1867  came 
Vermont;  in  1871,  New  Hampshire,  Michigan,  and  Wash- 
ington.2 From  that  time  on  the  other  states  have  been 
enacting  such  laws.  The  Southern  states,  which  before  the 
Civil  War  had  practically  no  public-school  system  and  after 
the  war  were  economically  depressed,  were  the  last  to  pass 
compulsory-attendance  acts. 

Without  attempting  to  deal  with  the  remoter  historical 
development  of  such  legislation,  it  is  possible  to  show  by 
reference  to  contemporary  reports  the  difficulties  in  securing 
and  enforcing  such  laws.  Two  quotations  from  the  reports  of 
the  Commissioner  of  Education  of  the  United  States  indicate 
the  present  conditions  with  regard  to  compulsory  attendance. 
The  report  of  1915  makes  the  following  statement: 

The  year  1915  was  a  notable  year  for  the  cause  of  compul- 
sory school  attendance.  Four  States  —  South  Carolina,  Florida, 
Alabama,  and  Texas  —  which  did  not  have  laws  on  the  subject, 
enacted  laws  at  the  last  sessions  of  their  legislatures.  This  new 
extension  of  the  compulsory  attendance  area  carries  required 
attendance  at  school  into  the  section  where  it  has  hitherto  met  the 
most  stubborn  resistance ;  the  area  now  practically  includes  the 
entire  United  States,  Georgia  and  Mississippi  alone  remaining 
without  laws  on  the  subject.8 

1  Ellwood  P.  Cubberley,  "Changing  Conceptions  of  Education."  River- 
side Educational  Monograph,  pp.  27-35.  Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  1909. 

*  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1888-1X89,  p.  471. 

*  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1915,  Vol.  I,  p.  12. 


38       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

The  report  of  1916  supplements  this  statement  as  follows : 

Efforts  were  made  to  secure  the  enactment  of  attendance  laws 
in  both  of  these  States  [Georgia  and  Mississippi]  in  1916,  and  in 
the  former  the  effort  was  successful.  The  new  law  of  Georgia,  in 
brief,  requires  the  attendance  of  every  child  between  8  and  1 4  years 
of  age  for  four  months  each  year.  Exemptions  from  this  require- 
ment apply  to  those  who  have  completed  the  fourth  grade  of 
school  work ;  those  upon  whom  needy  members  of  the  family  are 
dependent  for  support ;  those  whose  parents  or  guardians  are 
unable  to  provide  the  necessary  books  and  clothing,  unless  the 
same  are  otherwise  provided ;  those  whose  services  are  needed 
for  farm  emergencies ;  those  who  are  mentally  or  physically  inca- 
pable; and  those  who  reside  more  than  3  miles  from  school. 
Boards  of  education  of  counties  and  of  cities  and  towns  are 
intrusted  with  the  enforcement  of  the  law  in  their  respective 
jurisdictions.1 

OBSTACLES  TO  ENFORCEMENT  OF  COMPULSORY 
ATTENDANCE 

The  enactment  of  laws  is  only  one  step  in  securing 
attendance.  Especially  is  there  difficulty  where  local  authori- 
ties are  intrusted  with  the  enforcement  of  the  laws.  The 
records  of  school  operations  in  the  Northern  states  show  that 
compulsory  education  was  not  really  enforced  until  in  the 
'8o's  and  later.  The  sort  of  difficulty  encountered  is  clearly 
illustrated  by  a  clipping  from  the  Statesman,  a  daily  paper 
of  Austin,  Texas,  which  sets  forth  the  situation  late  in 
1916  under  the  Texas  law,  which  was  then  just  beginning 
to  be  effective. 

The  compulsory  school  attendance  law  will  be  effective  during 
the  coming  year.  The  compulsory  term  of  the  first  year  of  the 
law's  operation  will  be  three  months,  or  60  school  days,  and  the 
board  of  trustees  of  each  school  has  the  authority  to  specify 

1  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1916,  Vol.  I,  p.  24. 


EDUCATION  AS  A  PUBLIC  NECESSITY          39 

the  months  during  which  attendance  shall  be  compulsory.  The 
Austin  City  School  Board  has  ruled  that  the  compulsory  term  shall 
begin  January  i. 

The  matter  of  providing  truant  officers  has  not  yet  been  dealt 
with,  either  by  the  City  School  Board  or  by  the  County  Board  of 
Education.  The  law  provides  $2  a  day  as  remuneration  to  the 
truant  officer  for  the  time  actually  served  by  him.  The  City  Super- 
intendent believes  that  the  logical  procedure  for  the  city  will  be  to 
secure  the  services  of  the  county  probation  officer,  provided  it  is 
/ound  practicable  for  him  to  take  on  the  additional  duties. 

The  County  Board  of  Education  meets  next  Monday  and  will 
probably  discuss  this  matter.  It  cannot  act,  however,  except  on 
the  petition  of  fifty  citizens.  In  case  no  such  petition  is  presented, 
the  County  Superintendent  says  that  it  will  devolve  on  each  school 
principal  to  report  to  the  County  Superintendent  those  children 
who  are  not  in  school,  and  she  can  call  on  any  peace  officer  to 
execute  the  law.  It  is  not  thought  likely  that  the  probation  officer 
will  find  it  possible  to  act  as  truant  officer  for  the  county. 

The  reason  why  the  beginning  of  the  compulsory  period  was 
placed  so  late  as  January  i  is  that  many  of  the  children  likely  to 
be  affected  —  largely  Mexicans  and  negroes — will  be  needed  in 
the  cotton  patch  during  the  fall.  Also  in  the  city,  many  poor  boys 
and  girls  will  be  able  to  earn  something  during  the  Christmas 
holidays.  There  are  serious  objections  to  the  plan,  however,  since 
the  child  who  enters  school  so  late  in  the  session  will  be  at  a  serious 
disadvantage,  and  the  extra  attention  he  will  demand  of  the  teacher 
will  work  a  hardship  on  the  other  pupils.  Moreover,  in  the  city  the 
school  session  is  divided  into  two  equal  periods,  the  first  of  which 
ends  only  a  month  after  the  child  is  required  to  begin  attendance. 
This  will  involve  serious  difficulties. 

The  compulsory  attendance  law  applies  to  children  eight  to 
fourteen  years  of  age,  with  certain  exceptions.  The  compulsory 
ternrthe  second  year  will  be  eighty  days,  the  third  year  100  days. 

Defective  children  are  exempted ;  also  rural  children  more  than 
2\  miles  from  a  school,  and  on  the  written  statement  of  a  parent 
that  the  services  of  her  child  of  twelve  years  or  more  who  has 
reached  the  fourth  grade  arc  needed  for  the  mother's  support, 
such  a  child  may  be  exempted. 


40       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

Even  a  casual  reading  of  this  quotation  calls  attention  to 
the  fact  that  there  is  the  keenest  competition  between 
employment  and  education.  The  modern  industrial  system 
finds  children  profitable  for  certain  purposes  and  uses  them. 
If  society  is  to  enforce  its  judgment  that  these  children 
ought  to  be  in  school,  that  judgment  will  have  to  express 
itself  in  mandatory  terms.  The  federal  government  has 
recently  taken  a  hand  in  the  matter.  It  is  difficult  or 
impossible  in  some  states  to  get  suitable  legislation  against 
the  exploitation  of  child  labor  by  unprincipled  employers. 
State  legislatures  have  too  often  shown  themselves  subser- 
vient to  the  dictates  of  such  employers.  In  1916  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  passed  a  law  restricting  child 
labor  in  all  trades  which  produce  commodities  intended  for 
use  in  interstate  commerce.  This  federal  law  is  another 
expression  of  the  judgment  of  civilization  that  childhood  is 
a  period  which  should  be  devoted  to  education. 

It  is  also  shown  in  the  Texas  quotation  that  the  machin- 
ery for  keeping  account  of  children  is  complicated.  The 
ordinary  school  authorities  cannot  deal  with  the  matter  with- 
out adding  attendance  officers  to  their  staff.  These  officers 
must  be  supplied  with  adequate  information.  This  in  turn 
calls  for  a  special  school  census,  because  the  ordinary  na- 
tional enumeration  and  even  the  state  and  city  enumerations 
are  not  frequent  nor  complete  enough.  One  of  the  most 
progressive  of  the  New  England  states  has  recently  adopted 
legislation  looking  to  the  creation  of  a  more  adequate  system 
of  records.  This  new  law  is  described  in  the  Commissioner's 
Report  of  1916  as  follows  : 

In  order  to  facilitate  the  enforcement  of  its  attendance  law, 
Massachusetts  provided  in  1916  for  the  registration  of  minors. 
City  and  town  school  committees  are  required  under  the  new  law 
to  ascertain  the  name,  age,  and  other  essential  facts  respecting 
every  child  between  5  and  7,  between  7  and  14,  and  between  14 
and  1 6  years  of  age,  and  respecting  minors  over  16  years  of  age 


EDUCATION  AS  A  PUBLIC  NECESSITY          41 

who  cannot  read  and  write.  A  card  giving  these  data  must  be 
kept  for  every  child  or  minor.  The  attendance  officer  is  required 
to  examine  these  cards  and  see  that  children  attend  school  as 
required  by  law.  Supervisory  officers  of  private  schools  must 
within  30  days  report  the  enrollment  of  children  of  compulsory 
attendance  age,  and  when  any  child  withdraws  from  school  must 
report  the  same  within  10  days.1 

NEWER  LEGISLATION  RECOGNIZING  COMPLEXITY  OF 
PROBLEMS  OF  ATTENDANCE 

Definitions  of  the  period  of  compulsory  attendance  are 
usually  based  on  the  number  of  grades  in  the  elementary 
school.  Laws  commonly  specify  the  age  of  beginning  as 
six  and  fix  the  age  of  fourteen  as  the  upper  limit.  Some- 
times the  age  of  beginning  is  higher.  For  example,  the 
1915  law  in  South  Carolina  is  thus  described  by  the 
Commissioner  of  Education  : 

The  1915  act  of  South  Carolina  is  a  local  option  law.  Upon 
petition  of  a  majority  of  the  qualified  electors  of  a  district  or 
"  aggregation  of  districts,"  the  county  board  of  education  is 
required  to  declare  the  law  in  effect  in  such  district  or  districts,  or, 
on  petition  of  one-fourth  of  the  electors,  an  election  must  be  held 
to  determine  the  matter.  All  children  between  the  ages  of  8  and 
14  who  are  physically  able  and  who  reside  within  2^  miles  of  school 
are  required  to  attend  for  the  full  term,  or  at  least  for  four  months. 
Children  between  the  ages  of  14  and  16  are  required  to  attend 
unless  lawfully  employed  or  if  they  can  not  read  and  write  simple 
English  sentences.2 

The  provisions  of  this  law  show  how  complicated  is  the 
social  situation  with  which  the  community  deals  in  its  com- 
pulsory laws.  The  assumption  that  it  is  simple  to  define 
the  necessary  schooling  for  a  future  citizen  is  easily  refuted 
by  a  little  consideration. 

1  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1910,  Vol.  I,  p.  25. 

2  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1915,  Vol.  I,  pp.  12-13. 


42       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

In  the  first  place,  pupils  do  not  go  through  the  elemen- 
tary schools  without  interruption  ;  hence  the  mere  specifying 
of  a  given  age  such  as  fourteen  is  not  enough.  Non- 
promotion,  or  the  removal  of  the  family  to  another  town,  or 
some  misfortune  such  as  sickness  may  delay  the  pupil  so 
that  he  reaches  the  age  of  fourteen  in  one  of  the  lower 
grades.  Intelligent  legislation  is,  accordingly,  taking  this 
into  account.  In  some  states  it  is  required  that  the  child 
shall  finish  a  certain  grade,  —  usually  the  sixth,  —  otherwise 
he  must  go  to  school  until  he  is  sixteen.  Or,  as  in  South 
Carolina,  he  must  stay  in  school  until  he  has  acquired  the 
ability  to  read  and  write. 

In  this  connection  a  complication  in  legislation  may  be 
pointed  out  which  is  of  profound  social  significance.  The 
definition  of  adulthood  which  is  given  in  labor  legislation 
has  usually  set  the  age  at  which  a  boy  may  be  regularly 
employed,  at  sixteen,  while  the  education  law  of  the  same 
state  often  requires  school  attendance  only  up  to  fourteen. 
The  result  is  that  the  youth  between  fourteen  and  sixteen 
has  been  sadly  at  sea.  He  has  not  had  the  judgment  to  stay 
in  school  after  he  was  freed  by  the  compulsory-education 
law,  and  he  has  not  had  the  opportunity  to  enter  on  regular 
employment.  He  has  therefore  drifted  about,  working  at 
odd  jobs  and  learning  the  bad  habits  of  the  unproductively 
employed. 

SUPERVISION  A  NECESSARY  COROLLARY  TO  COMPULSION 

Such  considerations  as  these  lead  to  a  clear  understand- 
ing of  the  reasons  why  the  state  is  undertaking  in  increasing 
degree  the  supervision  of  the  details  of  school  work.  It  is 
not  enough  that  communities  should  open  schools  or  that 
pupils  should  be  compelled  to  attend  ;  the  quality  of  edu- 
cation must  be  such  as  to  justify  the  expenditure  of  public 
money  and  the  investment  of  the  pupils'  time  and  energy 
in  the  business  of  schooling. 


EDUCATION  AS  A  PUBLIC  NECESSITY          43 

Compulsory  education  implies  obligations  both  on  the 
side  of  the  pupil  and  on  the  side  of  the  community.  It 
would  manifestly  be  inequitable  to  compel  children  to  go  to 
school  if  the  community  failed  to  provide  suitable,  safe,  and 
sanitary  buildings.  Because  local  wisdom  in  such  matters  is 
often  limited,  and  local  judgment  biased  by  considerations 
of  expense,  the  state  has  dealt  with  the  matter  both  through 
general  legislation  and  through  vigorous  inspection. 

In  like  fashion  it  would  evidently  be  indefensible  to 
require  pupils  to  go  to  school  and  use  inferior  textbooks  or 
be  instructed  by  unqualified  teachers.  Here  again  the  larger 
community  has  found  it  necessary  to  take  a  hand.  State 
adoption  of  textbooks  is  not  uncommon,  and  state  certifica- 
tion of  teachers  is  becoming  universal. 

More  important,  perhaps,  than  anything  else  is  the  choice 
of  the  subject-matter  of  instruction.  To  the  ordinary  man, 
as  indicated  in  an  earlier  chapter,  subject-matter  seems  to 
choose  itself ;  but  it  does  not.  Nor  can  the  local  community 
be  expected  to  know  the  larger  needs  of  its  children.  A 
very  striking  example  of  this  is  furnished  by  the  fact  that 
the  federal  government  has  recently  set  aside  vast  sums  of 
money  for  the  purpose  of  subsidizing  and  directing  agricul- 
tural and  industrial  education.  The  theory  back  of  this 
action  is  that  even  the  states,  and  more  certainly  cities  and 
towns,  are  unable  to  deal  with  the  problems  of  adequate 
training  for  practical  life.  The  largest  unit,  namely,  the 
whole  country,  is  so  much  concerned  with  the  efficiency  of 
its  citizens  in  industrial  matters  that  it  has  undertaken  to 
subsidize  and  supervise  this  phase  of  education. 

Such  examples  make  clear  the  principle  under  which 
state  laws  define  the  minimum  course  of  study  and  under 
which  state  departments  of  education  are  erected  to  super- 
vise the  administration  of  the  course  of  study.  They  make 
clear  also  the  justification  for  the  statement  that  the  control 
of  education  ought  to  be  increasingly  centralized. 


44       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

HIGHER  EDUCATION  AND  PUBLIC  CONTROL 

There  is  one  aspect  of  the  educational  demands  of  a 
community  which  is  usually  thought  of  as  lying  entirely 
outside  the  scope  of  the  compulsory-education  law.  It  is 
ordinarily  thought  that  higher  education  is  a  purely  indi- 
vidual matter.  In  the  older  parts  of  the  country  the  state 
has  been  slow  to  provide  higher  schools.  Colleges  have 
often  been  provided  for  by  denominational  organizations  or 
by  purely  private  endowments.  Even  in  the  field  of  higher 
education,  however,  it  is  becoming  evident  that  public  inter- 
ests are  involved.  In  medicine,  in  law,  and  in  training  of 
teachers,  the  state  has  been  obliged  to  assume  increasingly 
supervisory  powers,  and  of  late  the  financial  provision  for 
such  education  has  been  more  and  more  accepted  as  a  public 
obligation.  The  result  of  this  evolution  is  the  broader  pro- 
vision out  of  the  public  purse  for  all  kinds  and  all  stages 
of  education. 

PUBLIC  CONTROL  ADEQUATE  ONLY  WHEN  DIRECTED 
BY  SCIENCE 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  much  is  involved  in 
the  establishment  of  a  public-school  system.  The  problems 
which  arise  in  the  teaching  of  pupils  are  intricate  ;  but  when 
one  thinks  of  education  as  a  public  necessity,  to  be  purchased 
with  public  funds  and  to  be  administered  in  the  interests  of 
the  broader  community,  one  sees  new  justification  for  the 
demand  that  all  school  problems  be  managed  with  wisdom. 
This  demand  can  be  met  only  when  school  problems  are 
made  subjects  of  exhaustive  scientific  study. 

FISCAL  PROBLEM  TYPICAL 

The  subsequent  chapters  will  take  up  briefly  the  prob- 
lems involved  in  organizing  a  school  system.  The  first  and 
most  general  problem  is  one  of  securing  funds  for  the 


EDUCATION  AS  A  PUBLIC  NECESSITY          45 

maintenance  of  the  schools.  It  will  be  well  to  reiterate  the 
statement  with  which  the  first  chapter  began.  The  pupil 
seldom  thinks  of  costs.  The  teacher  usually  overlooks  the 
fact  that  the  community  is  interested  in  what  schools  cost. 
Yet  funds  are  a  prime  necessity  in  organizing  a  public-school 
system.  We  turn,  accordingly,  to  fiscal  problems  as  among 
the  first  and  most  concrete  examples  of  educational  problems 
which  must  be  studied  by  one  who  would  be  intelligent  about 
the  school  system. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

Whose  duty  is  it  to  enforce  school  attendance  in  the  community 
in  which  you  live  ?  When  was  the  last  school  census  taken  ?  What 
is  the  ordinary  ratio  of  school  population  to  the  total  popula- 
tion ?  What  percentage  of  children  of  high-school  age  are  in  high 
school  ?  What  percentage  of  eighth-grade  pupils  go  on  to  high 
school  ?  What  percentage  of  high-school  graduates  go  to  college  ? 

The  ordinary  reader  will  perhaps  find  it  difficult  to  get  answers 
to  these  questions.  He  should  make  himself  a  student  of  the 
reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  of  the  United  States 
and  of  the  superintendent  of  schools  in  some  city  which  pub- 
lishes an  annual  report. 

From  some  school  record  find  out  what  percentage  of  enrolled 
pupils  attend  school  regularly. 

If  there  is  a  school  nurse  or  a  school  physician,  find  out  what 
time  in  the  year  is  most  likely  to  exhibit  small  attendance.  Verify 
the  finding  from  the  school  record. 

What  substitutes  for  attendance  on  public  schools  are  per- 
mitted ?  How  many  children  in  the  town  attend  schools  other 
than  public  schools,  and  why  ? 

AYRES,  L.  P.  Child  Accounting  in  the  Public  Schools.  Survey  Com- 
mittee of  the  Cleveland  Foundation.  (Copies  may  be  secured  from 
the  Russell  Sage  Foundation.)  This  is  one  of  the  volumes  of  the 
Cleveland  survey  and  is  the  only  brief  statement  of  the  whole 
matter  that  there  is. 

Reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  should  be  studied  as 
suggested  above. 


CHAPTER  IV 

INVESTING  PUBLIC  MONEY  IN  A  NEW  GENERATION 
THE  COST  OF  EDUCATING  AN  INDIVIDUAL 

We  all  know  something  about  how  much  the  family  in- 
vests in  its  sons  and  daughters.  The  provision  made  by  the 
father  for  his  children  is  recognized  as  an  expression  of 
the  parent's  willingness  to  give  to  the  second  generation  as 
good  a  start  in  life  as  the  family  can  afford.  We  are  less 
likely  to  realize  the  extent  to  which  the  community  is  draw- 
ing on  its  material  resources  for  a  similar  purpose.  The  city 
of  Chicago  —  to  choose  a  single  example  —  gives  to  each 
boy  or  girl  who  goes  through  elementary  school  and  high 
school  an  aggregate  of  six  hundred  and  thirty  dollars.  If 
a  child  were  notified  to  go  to  the  city  hall  when  he  is 
eighteen  years  of  age  and  receive  this  sum  of  money,  we 
should  recognize  what  it  means  for  a  community  to  pay  for 
the  education  of  its  new  generation.  We  should  understand 
that  the  children  of  a  city  are  its  wards.  When  the  matter 
is  obscured  by  the  complexities  of  the  social  machinery 
through  which  this  bonus  is  distributed,  we  lose  sight  of 
the  magnitude  and  directness  of  public  expenditures  for 
education. 

The  example  of  Chicago  can  be  pursued  even  further. 
The  sum  stated  above  is  too  small,  for  it  is  based  on  the 
annual  expenditures  for  conducting  the  schools ;  it  does  not 
include  the  large  outlay  for  school  buildings  and  for  real 
estate  which  the  city  is  called  upon  to  make  in  order  to  pro- 
vide rooms  in  which  the  education  may  be  given.  Nor  do 
the  figures  cover  irregularities.  If  the  pupil  does  not  get 

46 


INVESTING  PUBLIC  MONEY  47 

through  each  year's  work  in  regular  order,  the  city  is  often 
called  upon  to  provide  more  than  the  normal  number  of 
years  of  training. 

One  further  item  is  to  be  added  to  the  calculations  above 
given,  in  the  case  of  those  who  go  to  the  city  normal  college. 
For  these  teachers-in-training  the  city  pays  an  additional  two 
hundred  and  twenty-eight  dollars  a  year,  raising  the  aggre- 
gate expended  on  such  a  student  to  nearly  eleven  hundred 
dollars.1  Such  students  are  typical  of  a  vast  number  of 
young  people  who  are  attending  at  public  expense  state 
normal  schools,  state  universities,  and  public  technical 
schools.  Indeed,  even  where  students  attend  endowed  insti- 
tutions and  pay  tuition,  the  actual  cost  of  their  education  is 
commonly  borne  in  very  large  measure  by  the  community, 
which  in  the  last  analysis  is  the  source  of  the  endowment. 

TOTAL  SCHOOL  EXPENDITURES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Another  method  of  presenting  the  facts  is  to  deal  with 
totals.  The  figures  which  represent  the  expenditure  for 
public  education  in  the  United  States  are  so  large  that  the 
individual  who  reads  them  usually  passes  them  over  with 
little  comprehension  unless  he  is  given  some  background 
for  comparison.  Perhaps  this  background  can  be  furnished 
by  recalling  the  statement  quoted  in  the  last  chapter,  where 
it  was  pointed  out  that  a  century  ago  there  was  practically  no 
conception  of  the  principle  of  free  public  schools.  Schools 
were  supported  in  large  measure  by  charity  or  by  tuition. 

1  Average    cost    per    pupil    of    maintaining    elementary 

schools  for   1914-1915 J37-58 

Average  cost  per  pupil  of  maintaining  high  schools  for 

1914-1915     $82.36 

Average  cost  per  pupil  of  maintaining  Chicago  Normal 

College  for  1914-1915 5228.84 

Report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Schools  for  the  Year  Ending  June  30, 
1915.  in  the  Sixty-first  Annual  Report  of  the  Hoard  of  Education  of  the 
City  of  Chicago,  p.  196. 


48       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

Most  communities  provided  only  a  very  short  term  and  col- 
lected a  rate  bill,  or  personal  tuition,  from  the  pupils  to  sup- 
plement the  small  fund  secured  from  taxation.  During  the 
quarter  of  a  century  before  1850  there  was  a  widespread 
movement  in  the  Northern  states  which  gradually  secured  in 
the  face  of  much  opposition  full  public  support  for  schools. 
Rate  bills  did  not  disappear  entirely  until  1871,  the  last 
state  to  abolish  them  being  New  Jersey,  but  at  that  date 
the  principle  of  support  through  general  taxation  was  com- 
pletely established. 

In  1870,  as  we  are  told  by  the  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion, the  total  expenditures  for  public  elementary  and 
secondary  schools  had  reached  sixty-three  million  dollars.1 
Nineteen  years  later,  when  the  population  had  increased 
about  60  per  cent,  expenditures  had  more  than  doubled, 
reaching  one  hundred  and  forty  millions.  Since  that  time 
expenditures  have  increased  by  leaps  and  bounds,  far  sur- 
passing increases  in  population,  as  indicated  by  the  fol- 
lowing table  : 

TABLE  I.   EXPENDITURES  FOR  PUBLIC  ELEMENTARY  AND 
SECONDARY     SCHOOLS     COMPARED     FOR    A     PERIOD    OF 
YEARS,    INCLUDING    ALSO    A    COMPARISON    OF    POPULA- 
TION FOR  THE  SAME  PERIODS 


1889-1890 

1899-1900 

1909-1910 

1914 

Population2  .     . 

62,622,250 

75,602,515 

91,972,266 

98,741,324 

Expenditures  l  . 

$140,506,715 

$214,964,618 

$426,250,434 

$555.077»I46 

Expenditure    per 

capita  of  popu- 

lation    .    .    . 

$2.24 

$2.84 

$4.64 

$5.62 

Expenditure   per 

pupil   in   aver- 

age attendance 

$I7-23 

$2O.2I 

$33-23 

$39.04 

1  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1916,  Vol.  II,  p.  20. 

2  Ibid.  p.  19. 


INVESTING  PUBLIC  MONEY  49 

These  gross  figures  indicate  a  growth  in  schools  that  has 
never  been  paralleled  in  the  history  of  any  country.  The 
doubling  of  expenditures  between  1900  and  1910  is  due  in 
part  to  the  rapid  evolution  of  high  schools.  Elementary 
schools,  however,  have  shared  in  the  development.  Teachers 
are  more  highly  trained  than  ever  before,  new  courses  have 
been  added  to  the  curriculum,  and  better  hygienic  condi- 
tions have  been  provided  in  school  buildings.  There  can 
be  no  mistaking  the  evidence  that  American  communities 
are  willing  to  support  schools  in  a  program  of  expansion 
and  improvement. 

COST  A  DETERMINING  CONSIDERATION  IN  SCHOOL 
ORGANIZATION 

An  adequate  comprehension  of  the  meaning  of  the  sta- 
tistics of  educational  costs  will  make  it  impossible  for  the 
teacher  of  Latin  to  sit  apart  and  say  that  it  is  not  his  duty 
to  think  of  the  community.  The  teacher  of  science  cannot 
ask  for  unlimited  equipment  for  laboratory  exercises ;  the 
teacher  of  music  or  arithmetic  cannot  say  that  he  is  inter- 
ested merely  in  spiritual  and  intellectual  affairs  and  that  he 
has  no  reason  to  consider  material  matters.  The  impressive 
fact  is  that  a  great  public  trust  has  been  committed  to  the 
hands  of  teachers.  The  community  has  erected  schoolhouses 
and  taxed  itself  to  the  point  where  school  expenditures  have 
come  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  serious  burden  in  many  a 
section  of  the  country.  It  is  a  professional  obligation  resting 
on  the  teacher,  be  he  of  high  or  low  degree,  to  think  of 
his  relation  to  this  matter  of  public  expenditures.  The  pub- 
lic is  likely  to  become  more  and  more  insistent  in  the 
demand  that  public  expenditures  be  absolutely  purged  of 
waste  of  any  kind,  either  the  waste  that  arises  from  extrava- 
gance or  the  waste  that  results  from  inefficiency. 


INVESTING  PUBLIC  MONEY  51 

RELATION  OF  SCHOOL  EXPENDITURES  TO  OTHER  PUBLIC 

EXPENSES 

There  is  still  another  way  in  which  the  facts  regarding 
the  magnitude  of  the  public  investment  in  education  can  be 
formulated.  In  1913  the  Bureau  of  Census  secured  figures 
to  show  what  proportions  of  the  total  funds  spent  by  cities 
are  devoted  to  various  departments,  such  as  general  govern- 
ment, police,  fire,  and  so  on.  For  the  larger  cities  it  appears 
that  about  one  quarter  of  the  public  revenues  go  to  main- 
taining schools ;  in  cities  of  smaller  size  the  fraction  is 
larger,  reaching  in  some  cases  nearly  one  half.  For  purposes 
of  our  present  study  a  few  examples  will  suffice.  These  are 
given  in  Table  II.  Two  cases  are  exhibited  in  Fig.  4. 

TABLE  II.    PER    CENT    OF    TOTAL    GOVERNMENTAL    COST 
PAYMENTS   DEVOTED  TO  VARIOUS   CITY   DEPARTMENTS1 


GBNBRAL 
GOVERN- 
MENT 

M 

y 

£ 

M 

X 

Ua 

HEALTH 

SANITA- 
TION 

HIGH- 
WAYS 

CHARI- 
TIES 

SCHOOLS 

*   J   in 

s?* 

£   Z   * 

Ox  ~ 

New  York  .     .     . 

13-6 

12.  1 

7.0 

2-3 

8.0 

7.8 

8.7 

27.9 

12.4 

Chicago      .     .     . 

'5-3 

I5.8 

7-9 

'•3 

8.8 

6.6 

6.4 

24.6 

'3-4 

Philadelphia    .     . 

,3.8 

15.0 

5-> 

1.8 

7-' 

14.6 

10.4 

21.6 

10.4 

St.  Louis    .     .     . 

12.4 

'5-5 

8.2 

i.i 

IO.2 

13.0 

6.6 

25-3 

7.8 

Boston  .... 

10.8 

11.4 

8.1 

2.9 

9-3 

10.5 

8-3 

24.6 

'4-3 

Albany  .... 

'2-3 

'3-3 

14.1 

1.4 

7-6 

9-3 

3-o 

27.9 

I  I.I 

Dayton  .... 

7.6 

I  O.I 

9-9 

'  5 

10.5 

18.4 

4.1 

33-4 

4.6 

Des  Moines    . 

6.1 

6.1 

15.0 

o.S 

4.6 

9-7 

°-3 

46.5 

10.9 

Grand  Rapids     . 

9-4 

94 

14.0 

3-o 

6.8 

6.5 

1.9 

42-3 

6.9 

Richmond  .     .     . 

9-7 

10.8 

10.6 

2.9 

12.7 

21.6 

4-7 

2I.O 

6.1 

These  figures  show  why  it  is  that  the  business  man  and 
the  taxpayer  are  addicted  to  criticisms  of  school  expendi- 
tures. It  is  difficult  for  the  ordinary  citizen  to  get  this  great 


1  Jiullftin  A'o.  126,  Table  II,  United  States  Bureau  of  Census, 


52       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

expenditure  of  public  money  out  of  the  center  of  his  vision. 
He  can,  perhaps,  be  interested  by  some  enthusiast  in  the 
introduction  of  domestic  science  or  civics  or  some  other 
new  course  of  study ;  he  may  even  become  convinced  of  the 
need  of  improvements  in  the  equipment  of  school  buildings  ; 
but  sooner  or  later,  when  the  enthusiast  has  ceased  to  speak, 
the  persistent  fact  that  it  costs  a  great  share  of  the  revenue 
of  the  city  to  conduct  the  schools  will  reassert  itself  as  a 
dominant  item  in  his  thinking. 

URGENT  DEMANDS  FOR  ECONOMY  AND  EFFICIENCY 

In  not  a  few  cases  the  problem  of  financing  schools  has 
in  recent  years  become  especially  acute.  Communities  are  in 
many  cases  at  the  limit  now  permitted  by  state  laws  con- 
trolling the  levying  of  taxes.  The  maintenance  of  schools 
even  at  their  present  level  is  very  difficult,  and  all  the  time 
there  is  the  urgent  push  within  the  system  for  enlargements 
and  improvements.  Other  communities  which  see  the  rapid 
increase  in  school  expenditures,  even  while  they  are  willing 
to  tax  themselves  more  for  schools,  are  asking  for  clear 
evidence  that  school  work  is  being  done  efficiently. 

Such  an  attitude  appears,  for  example,  in  a  resolution 
passed  by  the  citizens  of  Portland,  Oregon,  at  a  regular 
annual  meeting  of  the  voters  held  December  27,  1912  : 

Whereas,  the  average  daily  attendance  at  the  public  schools  of 
this  district  has  increased  from  10,387  in  1902  to  23,712  in  1912, 
and  the  annual  disbursements  have  increased  during  the  same 
period  from  $420,879.61  to  $2,490,477.28  ;  and  whereas,  it  is  of 
the  utmost  importance  that  the  public  schools  should  be  kept  at 
the  highest  point  of  efficiency, 

It  is  hereby  declared  to  be  the  sense  of  this  meeting  that  a  full 
and  complete  survey  be  made  of  the  public  school  system  of  this 
district.1 

1  Quoted  in  fuller  detail  on  pages  426  et  seq.  of  the  "  Portland  Survey," 
by  Ellwood  P.  Cubberley.  Published  by  the  World  Book  Company,  1915. 


INVESTING  PUBLIC  MONEY  53 

Many  other  examples  could  be  given  of  school  inquiries 
which  have  grown  out  of  the  demand  for  either  better  ad- 
ministration of  finances  or  more  efficient  training.  In  1910 
the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  of  New  York 
ordered  a  survey  of  the  schools  of  that  city  because  the 
Board  did  not  believe  itself  to  be  in  possession  of  adequate 
information  on  which  to  base  appropriations  for  education 
and  because,  to  use  the  words  of  the  resolution, 

It  is  the  sense  of  this  Board  that  efficient  and  progressive  ad- 
ministration of  the  schools  ...  is  indispensable  to  the  welfare 
and  progress  of  the  city  and  that  generous  appropriations  .  .  . 
are  desirable  in  so  far  as  assurance  and  evidence  can  be  given  that 
such  appropriations  will  be  expended  for  purposes  and  in  a 
manner  to  promote  the  efficiency  and  welfare  of  the  schools  and 
to  increase  the  value  and  effect  of  the  instruction  given  therein.1 

Such  quotations  show  the  intimate  relation  between 
finance  and  teaching,  between  the  attitude  of  the  com- 
munity toward  expenditures  and  the  modern  demand  for  a 
scientifically  conducted  school  system. 

EXPENDITURES  IN  RELATION  TO  WEALTH 

Returning  to  the  detailed  study  of  school  finance,  it  may 
be  laid  down  as  a  fundamental  principle  that  in  general 
school  expenditures  are  related  to  the  ability  of  a  com- 
munity to  pay  taxes.  Taking  for  purposes  of  illustration 
the  three  largest  cities,  we  find  that  they  have  different 
degrees  of  wealth.  New  York  City  has  an  average  wealth 
of  $1765.28  per  inhabitant;  Chicago  has  only  $1604.20; 
Philadelphia,  $953.65.  Evidently  the  capacity  of  these 
cities  for  supporting  schools  is  very  different.  The  dif- 
ferences in  wealth  correspond  roughly  to  the  varying  scale 
of  expenditures  for  elementary  schools  in  these  three  cities. 

'Report  of  Committee  on  School  Inquiry,  p.  61.  Published  by  the  city 
of  New  York,  1911-1913. 


54       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

New  York  expends  $45.67  per  pupil ;  Chicago,  $37.58  ; 
and  Philadelphia,  $32.22.  The  less  wealthy  cities  commonly 
spend  less  on  schools. 

There  is  a  certain  equity  in  the  variation  in  expenditures 
above  noted.  But  there  are  conditions  under  which  the  vari- 
ations in  wealth  are  so  great  that  if  expenditure  depended 
on  the  ability  of  a  community  to  pay  for  schools,  the  chil- 
dren would  suffer.  In  such  cases  the  state  must  take  a 
share  of  the  costs  and  must,  in  the  interests  of  the  general 
community,  pay  for  better  schools  than  the  city  or  district 
can  itself  afford. 

If  one  thinks  of  a  mining  town,  for  example,  where  the 
population  is  made  up  entirely  of  laborers  with  large  families 
and  where  the  homes  are  crowded  together  in  a  small  area,  it 
will  be  recognized  at  once  that  the  ability  to  support  schools 
is  very  different  from  that  of  a  well-to-do  manufacturing  city 
or  of  a  sparsely  settled,  fertile  farming  region  where  the 
children  are  few  and  the  taxable  wealth  is  comparatively  great. 
In  the  case  of  the  mining  town  the  state  must  step  in  to 
equalize  in  some  degree  the  educational  opportunities  of  the 
children.  It  is  not  to  the  advantage  of  the  state  as  a  whole 
that  the  many  children  of  that  town  should  be  seriously 
limited  in  their  schooling,  because  they  will  in  due  time 
scatter  to  other  communities,  and  the  safety  and  progress  of 
these  other  communities  require  that  there  shall  be  adequate 
educational  opportunities  in  the  mining  town. 

This  one  example  is  enough  to  suggest  the  problems 
which  arise  in  the  study  of  support  for  schools.  The  sources 
of  these  funds  and  the  equitable  distribution  of  state  school 
taxes  constitute  one  of  the  large  problems  of  public  finance 
and  call  for  careful  scientific  study.  Such  questions  as  the 
following  arise  and  must  be  answered  :  Shall  state  grants 
be  determined  by  the  pupil  enrollment,  by  the  average 
attendance,  by  the  aggregate  attendance,  or  by  the  number 
of  teachers  employed  ? 


INVESTING  PUBLIC  MONEY 


55 


COSTS  OF  DIFFERENT  LEVELS  OF  EDUCATION 

Turning  to  details  of  expenditure,  we  find  a  new  set  of 
problems.  Perhaps  the  most  impressive  fact  is  that  there 
is  a  wide  discrepancy  in  every  city  between  the  average  ex- 
penditures per  pupil  in  elementary  schools  and  high  schools. 
Again,  we  may  select  as  typical  the  facts  for  the  cities  re- 
ferred to  in  an  earlier  table.  These  average  figures  are  less 
striking  than  some  which  could  be  cited.  In  Los  Angeles, 
California,  the  cost  per  pupil  in  the  high  school,  at  the  same 
date  as  that  for  which  the  figures  in  Table  III  were  com- 
piled, was  $285.67  as  contrasted  with  the  cost  of  $59.41 
per  elementary  pupil. 

TABLE   III.     COST    PER    PUPIL    IN    ELEMENTARY    SCHOOLS 
AND  HIGH   SCHOOLS   IN   SELECTED  CITIES1 


ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOL 

HIGH  SCHOOL 

New  York       

$4  S-67 

$105.86 

Chicago      

17.  C8 

8q.i>; 

T>.22 

87.10 

St   Louis    .         

17.21 

1  11.72 

Boston    

44.8l 

82.77 

Albany        

m.6o 

7O.q6 

2Q.8i; 

61.77 

Des  Moincs    

11-66 

SI.  17 

40.  4? 

87.^6 

22.24 

c6.7T 

It  requires  very  little  consideration  to  explain  why  there 
is  a  difference  between  these  two  types  of  expenditures. 
High-school  classes  are  often  small,  teachers  receive  higher 

1  Figures  taken  from  the  financial  survey  of  drand  Rapids,  Michigan, 
prepared  by  Dr.  II.  ().  Kugg  and  published  in  the  survey  of  that  city  pub- 
lished by  the  Board  of  Education,  1917,  and  from  the  survey  of  St.  Louis 
by  the  same  investigator. 


56       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

salaries,  and  equipment  is  more  expensive.  It  requires  much 
more  consideration  to  justify  the  difference.  There  are  some 
who  hold  that  the  elementary  school  is  being  sacrificed  to  the 
high  school.  Indeed,  there  are  some  people  so  extreme  in 
their  views  that  they  would  make  all  high  schools  tuition 
schools.  They  hold  that  Boston  is  in  expenditures  much 
less  open  to  criticism  than  St.  Louis.  In  St.  Louis,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  pointed  out  that  a  most  elaborate  scheme 
of  high  schools  has  been  organized  with  a  view  to  providing 
every  high-school  student  in  every  section  of  the  city  with 
the  broadest  possible  opportunities.  By  way  of  further  answer 
to  the  critics  of  the  high  school,  it  is  asserted  that  the  com- 
munity gets  back  in  public  service  from  the  student  who  has 
taken  higher  courses  more  than  such  courses  cost.  Certain 
it  is,  as  the  figures  in  Table  III  show,  that  cities  are  making 
expenditures  on  a  most  generous  scale  for  the  maintenance 
of  high  schools  ;  and  the  total  amount  of  this  expenditure 
is  greater  than  the  table  indicates  because  there  are  large 
initial  appropriations  for  school  buildings  which  are  not  taken 
into  account  in  these  statements  of  current  expenses. 

COSTS  OF  DIFFERENT  SUBJECTS  OF  INSTRUCTION 

Pursuing  the  matter  further,  we  find  that  there  are  the 
widest  discrepancies  in  costs  due  to  differences  in  the  sub- 
jects taught,  to  differences  in  the  number  of  pupils  assembled 
in  class,  and  to  other  less  conspicuous  differences. 

In  order  to  bring  out  the  differences  between  subjects  in 
the  same  school,  Professor  Bobbitt  has  calculated  the  cost, 
per  thousand  student  hours,  of  instruction  in  twenty-five 
medium-sized  high  schools,  and  presents  in  Table  IV  the 
median1  cost  of  each  subject. 

1  The  median  is  that  figure  above  which  and  below  which  fall  half  the 
cases.  It  is,  therefore,  a  suitable  sample  of  the  whole  group.  It  is  a  better 
representative  figure  than  the  average. 


INVESTING  PUBLIC  MONEY 


57 


TABLE   IV.      COST,    PER   THOUSAND    STUDENT    HOURS,   OF 
INSTRUCTION  IN   HIGH   SCHOOLS    IN  THE  VARIOUS   SUB- 
JECTS OF  THE  CURRICULUM1 


SUBJECTS 

MEDIAN  COST 

Shopwork  

$0-3 

Normal  training                      .         .             

Q2 

Latin      

71 

Commercial  .             .    .         

6q 

Modern  languages     

67 

History  

62 

Household  occupations     .    .         ...         

61 

Science      

60 

Mathematics  

CQ 

English  .             .             

Cf 

Agriculture    

48 

Music     

27 

Translating  this  table  into  the  form  of  a  series  of  ques- 
tions which  school  authorities  and  communities  must  face, 
we  may  ask  :  Is  it  desirable  that  shopwork  be  supplied  in  a 
school  when  it  costs  nearly  twice  as  much  as  English  ?  Is 
I^atin  enough  better  than  modern  languages  to  justify  its 
retention  in  the  program  of  a  school  when  it  costs  eight 
dollars  more  per  unit  of  instruction  ? 

Like  series  of  facts  for  the  elementary  schools  can  be 
borrowed  from  an  unpublished  study  by  Mr.  G.  Lee  Fleming 
of  Hibbing,  Minnesota,  and  arc  reproduced  in  Table  V. 
Certain  selected  facts  are  also  exhibited  in  Fig.  5.  The 
table  shows  that  reading  absorbs  nearly  two  thirds  of  the 
expenditures  of  the  first  grade,  while  in  the  third  grade 
the  same  subject  gets  a  little  less  than  one  third  of  the  ex- 
penditures, and  in  the  sixth  grade  about  one  sixth.  Opening 

1  J.  F.  Bobbin.  "High-School  Costs,"  in  the  Shoal  Rei'inc,  Vol.  XXIII, 
No.  8  (1915),  p.  526. 


58       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

exercises  require  about  the  same  expenditure  in  all  grades. 
Geography  comes  into  prominence  first  in  the  fourth  grade. 
A  study  of  the  table  will  show  that  financial  statements  of 
this  type  are  indexes  of  academic  organization. 

TABLE  V.    THE    PORTION   OF    EACH    THOUSAND    DOLLARS 

SPENT  FOR  INSTRUCTION  IN  EACH   SUBJECT  IN  EACH  OF 

THE  FIRST  SIX  ELEMENTARY  GRADES » 


SUBJECTS 

FIRST 
GRADE 

SECOND 
GRADE 

THIRD 
GRADE 

FOURTH 
GRADE 

FIFTH 
GRADE 

SIXTH 
GRADE 

AVERAGE 

Reading  

$611 

$4O7 

$7O7 

$240 

$1  SO 

$1*6 

$112 

Arithmetic  .... 

5 

W"T*F/ 

IOI 

~vJ        / 

176 

I87 

Jr*  jw 

181 

IP*  jv 

190 

Trj  A  *• 
I4O 

Language   .... 

95 

I  IO 

126 

130 

178 

I05 

124 

Music      

86 

90 

84 

67 

58 

67 

75 

Spelling      .... 

3 

92 

90 

93 

So 

/I 

7i 

Geography      .    .    . 

— 

— 

9 

102 

124 

152 

64 

Writing  

40 

68 

61 

61 

(2 

en 

eg 

Drawing      .... 

"-/ 
60 

80 

55 

66 

J- 
32 

jJ 
42 

j" 
56 

Manual  arts    .    .    . 

— 

— 

23 

9 

60 

76 

28 

Opening  exercises  . 

34 

21 

23 

21 

24 

25 

25 

Physical  culture 

1  1 

— 

15 

14 

40 

39 

20 

Folk  dancing      .    . 

1  1 

22 

25 

— 

— 

— 

10 

Hygiene      .... 

— 

3 

6 

IO 

I  I 

13 

7 

Construction  work  . 

28 

— 

— 



— 

— 

5 

History  



I  O 

c 

2 

Handwork  .... 

4 

6 





J 

2 

Sense  training    .    . 

3 

— 

— 

— 

— 

— 

I 

Total   

$1000 

$1000 

$1000 

$IOOO 

$1000 

$1000 

$IOOO 

COSTS  OF  CLASSES  OF  DIFFERENT  SIZES 

A  second  determinant  of  costs  is  the  size  of  the  class. 
One  of  the  simplest  ways  of  reducing  expenses  is  to  give  a 
single  teacher  a  large  number  of  pupils  to  care  for.  In  1916 
the  superintendent  of  schools  in  St.  Louis  calculated  that 

1  G.  Lee  Fleming,  Instructional  Costs  in  the  First  Six  Elementary 
Grades.  Master's  Thesis,  Department  of  Education,  The  University  of 
Chicago,  1916. 


100 

m 

n 

• 
• 

Grade  123456     Arg. 
Reading 

123456     Avgr. 
Arithmetic 

HO 

100 

\ 

- 



Orade  1         23456      AVR.                    123456     Av*. 

Language                                               Writing 

FIG.  5.   Distribution  in  the  various  grades  of  each  thousand  dollars 
expended  for  instruction 

The  relative  expenditure  in  six  grades  of  the  schools  of  Hibbing,  Minnesota, 
for  four  of  the  chief  school  subjects  is  shown  by  the  height  of  the  columns 

59 


60       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

the  reduction  of  elementary  classes  in  the  schools  of  that 
city  by  an  average  of  one  pupil  per  class  would  cost  the  city 
$65,000  per  year.  Los  Angeles  and  Indianapolis  have  small 
elementary  classes,  the  averages  being  23.7  and  24.7  mem- 
bers per  class  respectively.  The  cost  of  elementary  instruc- 
tion is  very  high,  being  $59.41  and  $50.45  respectively. 
St.  Louis  and  Chicago  have  much  lower  costs,  namely,  $37.21 
and  $37.58  respectively.  These  low  costs  are  secured  in  a 
very  large  measure  by  grouping  children  in  large  classes  of 
37.6  and  40.3  average  membership  per  class. 

SALARIES 

Teachers'  salaries  differ  in  different  cities  and  affect  the 
problems  of  cost ;  the  number  of  hours  that  teachers  teach 
is  another  cause  of  variation. 

BOOKS  AND  SUPPLIES 

Certain  cities  supply  the  pupils  with  books  and  materials, 
while  other  cities  require  the  children  to  bring  their  supplies 
from  home.  In  the  long  run,  the  cost  falls  on  the  com- 
munity in  either  case,  but  it  is  differently  distributed.  In 
the  first  case,  the  taxpayers  pay  for  the  supplies  as  they  do 
for  school  buildings,  each  taxpayer  contributing  according 
to  the  assessed  value  of  his  property.  In  the  second  case, 
parents  pay  for  supplies  according  to  the  number  of  their 
children  and  without  regard  to  their  property. 

In  regard  to  general  supplies,  there  are  also  differences 
in  policy.  Some  cities  are  lavish  in  furnishing  maps  and 
reference  books  and  specimens  for  nature  study,  while 
others  are  very  economical  in  these  respects,  sometimes 
justifying  their  policy  by  saying  that  they  put  all  they  can 
afford  to  expend  into  teachers'  salaries.  The  question  is 
thus  raised  :  How  far  is  it  legitimate  to  spend  money  in 
providing  material  equipment,  and  how  far  should  it  be 


INVESTING  PUBLIC  MONEY  6l 

devoted  to  the  payment  of  high-salaried  teachers  ?  Is  it  well, 
for  example,  to  ask  a  teacher  of  good  training  in  geography 
to  instruct  a  class  without  any  wall  maps  ?  Is  it  economical 
to  ask  a  teacher  of  history  to  conduct  his  classes  without 
books  of  reference  ?  Or,  comparing  various  kinds  of  mate- 
rial equipment  with  each  other,  one  may  ask  whether  it 
is  more  essential  to  spend  money  on  well-lighted,  well- 
ventilated  rooms  that  are  barren  of  apparatus  or  to  put  up 
with  old  buildings  and  purchase  laboratory  equipment. 

THE  MEANING  OF  FINANCIAL  ORGANIZATION  AND 
EDUCATIONAL  ACCOUNTING 

One  reason  why  it  is  important  that  questions  like  those 
in  the  foregoing  paragraphs  be  explicitly  formulated  is  that 
many  citizens  think  of  school  finance  as  wholly  distinct 
from  school  organization.  Very  often  members  of  the  board 
of  education  will  disclaim  any  knowledge  of  the  course  of 
study  or  of  the  qualifications  of  teachers  and  say  that  it  is 
their  sole  duty  to  supervise  expenditures.  Consideration  of 
the  real  problems  of  school  finance  soon  brings  to  the  sur- 
face the  fact  that  financial  expenditures  are  merely  means 
to  the  end  of  supplying  adequate  opportunity  for  all  the 
children  who  are  required  by  legislation  to  attend  schools. 
School  finance  is  one  aspect  of  school  organization. 

In  recent  years  there  has  been  a  movement  in  the  di- 
rection of  better  accounting  systems  which  are  designed  to 
reveal  the  needs  of  the  schools  and  the  ways  in  which  these 
needs  are  being  met.  The  financial  records  of  progressive 
school  systems,  instead  of  throwing  together  expenditures 
in  general  accounts,  are  keeping  items  of  supervision  distinct 
from  items  of  teaching.  Costs  of  supplies  of  various  kinds 
are  kept  apart.  Thus,  janitors'  supplies  arc  kept  separate 
from  crayon  and  other  educational  supplies.  The  cost  of 
coal  is  used  as  a  means  of  checking  the  efficiency  of  janitors. 


62       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

The  Bureau  of  Education  of  the  United  States  has  pre- 
pared bookkeeping  forms,  and  a  number  of  school  systems 
are  keeping  uniform  records  of  expenditures.  This  will 
greatly  facilitate  comparisons  and  scientific  studies  in  the 
future  and  will  help  to  make  school  finance  more  than  a 
mere  haphazard  distribution  of  public  money. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

What  would  it  cost  to  supply  all  the  members  of  a  college  class 
with  free  textbooks  ?  Would  it  be  equally  just  to  supply  a  college 
class  with  notebooks  ?  with  writing  paper  ? 

Why  is  a  laboratory  fee  charged  in  certain  courses  ?  Is  a  labo- 
ratory fee  just  in  a  class  in  physics  ?  in  chemistry  ?  in  drawing  ? 

In  case  a  boy  is  going  to  become  a  plumber,  is  the  public  under 
any  obligation  to  train  him  so  that  he  will  become  an  expert  ? 
How  about  a  doctor  ?  What  steps  does  the  public  take  to  insure 
efficiency  in  teachers  ?  in  railroad  engineers  ?  in  mail  clerks  ? 

What  are  the  state  laws  with  regard  to  the  amount  of  tax  that 
may  be  levied  for  schools  ?  Are  upper  limits  really  necessary  ? 

A  certain  town  is  about  to  build  a  new  schoolhouse.  The  build- 
ing will  cost  in  the  aggregate  about  $30,000.  If  the  building  is 
provided  with  a  sightly  lawn  in  front  and  with  an  ornamental 
pattern  in  the  brick,  it  will  cost  $400  more  than  if  it  is  perfectly 
plain  and  the  yard  is  made  of  gravel.  If  the  corridor  is  made  six- 
teen feet  wide  rather  than  twelve,  the  cost  will  be  $400  greater. 
Shall  the  two  expenditures  be  made  or  not  ? 

CLARK,  E.  Financing  the  Public  Schools.  The  Survey  Committee  of 
the  Cleveland  Foundation.  (Copies  may  be  secured  from  the  Rus- 
sell Sage  Foundation.)  This  is  a  volume  of  the  Cleveland  survey. 

CUBBERLEY,  E.  P.  Public  School  Administration.  Houghton  Mifflin 
Company.  This  deals  with  the  problems  of  public-school  organiza- 
tion, including  the  general  principles  of  finance. 

RUGG,  H.  O.  Report  on  the  finances  of  the  school  system  of  Grand 
Rapids  in  the  "  School  Survey,  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan."  Board  of 
Education,  Grand  Rapids. 

RUGG,  H.O:  Report  on  thefinancesoftheschoolsystemof  St.  Louis  in  the 
"  School  Survey,  St.  Louis,  Missouri."  Board  of  Education,  St.  Louis. 


CHAPTER  V 

DELEGATING  RESPONSIBILITY  FOR  CARRYING 
ON  SCHOOLS 

CLASS  INSTRUCTION  GIVEN  OVER  TO  THE  TEACHER 

Although  the  community  as  a  whole  recognizes  the  need 
of  education,  and  is  willing  to  supply  the  necessary  financial 
support,  it  cannot  manage  directly  the  details  of  school 
operation.  The  community  cannot  decide  what  seven-year- 
old  children  shall  study.  The  community  cannot  decide 
what  ought  to  be  done  with  a  disorderly  pupil.  It  becomes 
necessary,  therefore,  for  the  community  to  devise  some 
method  of  picking  out  suitable  representatives  who  can 
carry  on  the  schools. 

The  first  task  to  be  thus  delegated  was  that  of  class- 
room instruction.  One  reads  in  the  records  of  the  early 
town  meetings  of  New  England  how  the  whole  community 
participated  in  the  discussion  of  all  financial  matters  and 
of  many  problems  connected  with  the  course  of  study.  For 
example,  the  site  of  a  schoolhouse,  its  cost,  and  its  plan 
have  always  been  subjects  of  community  discussion.  Again, 
the  community  has  often  decided  whether  it  wants  geog- 
raphy taught  or  certain  branches  of  mathematics.  But  when 
it  came  to  the  daily  routine  of  school  work,  the  community 
employed  a  teacher  and  turned  the  children  over  to  him. 

SUPERVISION 

The  next  stage  of  representative  control  was  reached 
when  the  community  came  to  a  recognition  of  the  neces- 
sity of  some  kind  of  intelligent  supervision  of  teachers. 

63 


64       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

Visiting  committees  were  appointed,  usually  including  the 
clergyman  of  the  town,  to  look  into  the  work  of  the  classes 
and  report  to  the  town  meeting. 

So  long  as  communities  were  small  and  fairly  homogene- 
ous in  their  social  and  intellectual  characteristics  it  remained 
possible  to  get  on  with  direct  town-meeting  control  of  the 
schools  in  all  except  the  details  of  teaching  classes  and  the 
supervision  of  teachers.  One  reads,  to  be  sure,  of  disagree- 
ments at  times  between  the  town  meeting  and  the  teacher. 
The  visiting  committee  and  the  teacher  sometimes  had  a 
clash,  and  the  supporters  of  each  presented  their  views  with 
vigor  before  the  whole  community.  Problems  of  organiza- 
tion and  administration  were  not  lacking  even  in  those 
simpler  days,  but  the  machinery  of  school  management  was 
fairly  direct  and  simple. 

SKETCH  OF  DEVELOPMENT  OF  A  SCHOOL  SYSTEM 

How  this  direct  control  of  schools  became  impossible 
with  the  growth  of  communities  can  be  illustrated  by  a 
single  example.  In  the  city  of  Chicago  in  its  early  years 
the  schools  were  independent  of  each  other.  Indeed,  in  the 
first  years  immediately  after  the  incorporation  of  the  town, 
the  schools  were  private  schools  to  which  the  taxpayers 
paid  a  stipulated  sum  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of 
school  lands  or  out  of  district  levies.  The  variable  character 
of  the  teaching  which  was  secured  under  this  plan  led  to 
the  adoption  in  1835  of  a  partially  centralized  system  of 
inspection  and  management.  The  districts  were  left  inde- 
pendent in  all  financial  matters,  but  a  central  board  of  in- 
spectors was  provided  which  was  to  unify  the  schools  of 
the  town.  This  central  board  was  continued  after  the  incor- 
poration of  the  city,  in  1837,  but  the  districts  were  left  in- 
dependent in  financial  matters  even  after  that  date.  The 
districts  voted  on  the  amount  to  be  paid  to  teachers,  on  the 
housing  of  the  schools,  and  on  other  matters  relating  to 


DELEGATING  RESPONSIBILITY  65 

taxes.  There  were  district  committees  to  care  for  these 
local  financial  matters. 

Even  though  the  city  government  was  centralized  by  the 
incorporation  of  1837,  the  schools  remained  distinct.  The 
central  board  of  inspectors  adopted  certain  textbooks,  but 
it  appears  that  the  schools  paid  little  attention  to  this  action. 
How  meager  was  the  district  provision  for  schools  appears 
in  the  fact  that  it  was  not  until  1845  that  the  first  public- 
school  building  was  erected. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the  chaos  under  which  such 
a  system  suffered.  In  1851  the  city  council  took  away 
from  the  districts  the  power  of  hiring  teachers  and  gave  it 
to  the  central  board  of  inspectors.  It  also  appointed  a 
business  manager.  The  board  of  inspectors  thus  gained  in 
power  and  influence,  but  they  found  themselves  confronted 
by  educational  problems  which  they  could  not  solve.  In 
1853  they  adopted  the  plan  which  was  relatively  new  in 
American  cities,  but  was  coming  into  vogue,  of  appointing 
a  superintendent  of  schools.  This  officer  at  once  graded 
the  children,  organized  a  uniform  course  of  study,  and  took 
steps  to  equalize  instruction  in  the  schools  of  the  city. 

THE  COMMUNITY  SLOW  TO  DELEGATE  SCHOOL  CONTROL 

The  historical  sketch  outlined  above  gives  us  a  clear  in- 
sight into  the  way  in  which  problems  of  school  organization 
arise.  The  community  must  delegate  the  work  of  carrying 
on  schools.  There  is  a  natural  hesitation  in  intrusting  this 
important  work  to  anyone.  As  a  result,  the  community  is  con- 
stantly taking  a  hand,  even  in  these  latter  days,  in  all  kinds 
of  school  discussions.  Sometimes  the  whole  city  is  drawn  into 
a  discussion  of  school  matters.  Sometimes  the  individual 
parent,  in  his  capacity  as  a  citizen,  attempts  to  take  into 
his  hands  the  authority  of  the  community,  especially  when 
the  way  in  which  the  schools  arc  being  managed  seems  to 
him  to  be  unfavorable  to  the  interests  of  his  children. 


66       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

LIMITS  OF  AUTHORITY  AND  RESPONSIBILITY  NOT  CLEAR 

The  various  officials  who  are  created  in  the  process  of 
developing  a  representative  system  of  school  control  often 
find  themselves  unable  to  determine  the  limits  of  their 
authority  or  responsibility.  For  example,  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  determine  where  the.  duties  of  a  business  man- 
ager end  and  the  functions  of  the  superintendent  begin. 
Thus,  when  it  comes  to  the  employment  of  teachers  and 
the  determination  of  salaries,  the  question  arises  whether 
these  matters  should  be  settled  on  educational  grounds  or 
on  financial  grounds,  or  on  both. 

Especially  acute  is  the  problem  of  determining  the  proper 
relation  of  the  board  of  inspectors  to  the  teachers  and 
superintendent.  The  inspectors,  or  the  board  of  education 
as  they  have  come  to  be  called,  are  chosen  as  the  imme- 
diate representatives  of  the  community.  They  are  citizens  in 
whom  the  community  has  general  confidence,  but  they  are 
not  charged,  as  was  pointed  out  above,  with  the  daily  tasks  of 
teaching.  The  board  must  accordingly  appoint  teachers  and 
a  superintendent.  These  latter  are  selected  because  they 
have  training  and  technical  qualifications  which  the  com- 
munity needs  in  the  schools.  The  technical  officers  have  in 
an  important  sense  an  independent  place  in  the  educational 
system.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  teacher  was  the 
first  one  to  whom  the  community  delegated  responsibility 
for  the  schools.  Not  infrequently  the  community  finds  its 
board  of  representative  citizens  on  one  side  of  a  school 
issue  and  its  technical  officers  on  the  other  side. 

Take  a  commonplace  example.  In  the  development  of 
the  course  of  study  it  has  come  to  pass  that  many  new  sub- 
jects have  been  introduced  which  cost  a  great  deal.  Manual 
training  and  domestic  science,  as  was  shown  in  the  last 
chapter,  are  expensive.  Superintendents  and  "teachers  are 
enthusiastic  about  the  educational  value  of  these  subjects. 


DELEGATING  RESPONSIBILITY  67 

Sometimes  the  board  of  education  has  to  curtail  the  expend- 
itures involved  because  the  community  does  not  seem  to  be 
prepared  to  pay  the  price.  If  the  board  is  supreme  and  the 
superintendent  is  its  servant,  how  can  a  campaign  of  ex- 
planation be  organized  which  will  show  the  community 
what  is  needed  ?  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  superintendent 
is  at  liberty  to  go  directly  to  the  community  without  the 
consent  or  sympathy  of  the  board,  complications  arise  which 
are  not  difficult  to  imagine. 

STATEMENT  BY  A  PUBLIC  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 

A  series  of  difficulties  in  the  administration  of  the 
schools  of  Chicago  brought  out  from  the  Public  Education 
Association  of  that  city  a  statement  of  the  relation  between 
the  board  of  education  and  the  technical  officers  of  the  schools 
which  illustrates  so  clearly  the  matters  discussed  in  the  fore- 
going paragraphs  that  it  may  properly  be  quoted  at  length. 


Some  people  want  the  school  board  to  be  large,  so  that  every- 
one may  be  represented.  They  think  that  it  is  desirable  that  there 
should  be  members  on  the  board  from  every  district  in  the  city, 
every  nationality,  the  various  trades,  and  the  various  professions. 

A  board  cannot  be  made  into  a  representative  body  in  this 
sense.  It  would  never  be  large  enough  to  include  ever)  body,  and 
it  would  be  unwieldy  in  action.  What  is  needed  is  a  small  board 
that  will  be  broad  in  its  interests,  that  will  ask  many  questions 
covering  all  sections  of  the  city,  and  that  can  act  promptly.  This 
board  should  have  laid  before  it  carefully  drawn  plans  touching  all 
the  interests  of  the  community. 

This  small  board  has  to  decide  general  policies  and  select  the 
people  to  carry  out  these  policies.  It  should  not  operate  the 
schools  but  should  see  that  they  arc  operated.  It  should  require 
evidence  from  the  people  who  operate  the  schools  showing  that 
they  are  doing  it  successfully.  It  should  demand  and  issue  reports 
that  are  clear  and  intelligible  to  the  whole  community. 


68       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  A  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION 

The  functions  of  the  board  of  education  have  never  been  fully 
understood  in  American  cities  because  it  has  been  thought  of  as 
the  means  employed  by  the  people  to  conduct  the  schools.  This  is 
a  wrong  notion.  The  people  want  trained  teachers  and  trained 
officers  to  conduct  the  schools.  The  people  want  the  board  of 
education  to  organize  the  schools  so  that  they  shall  employ  the 
most  expert  people  who  can  be  secured. 

HOW  A  GOOD  BOARD  GETS  THE  WORK  DONE 

This  statement  leads  to  a  consideration  of  the  second  group  of 
people  who  have  to  do  with  the  school  organization.  The  schools 
could  not  get  on  without  trained  teachers.  There  was  a  time  when 
each  parent  taught  his  own  child.  That  was  in  the  days  when 
there  was  n't  much  to  teach.  To-day  the  parent  places  his  child  in 
the  care  of  a  specialist.  The  parent  has  come  to  the  specialist 
because  the  parent  has  confidence  that  the  specialist  knows  how 
to  take  care  of  the  children.  Teachers  are  not  mere  hirelings  and 
nurses,  inferior  to  the  children ;  teachers  are  trained  specialists. 

As  the  system  grows  more  complex  there  appear  several  classes 
of  specialists  —  some  who  know  how  to  deal  with  the  pupils,  some 
who  know  how  to  provide  the  children  with  proper  seats  and 
proper  ventilation,  some  who  know  how  to  make  courses  of  study, 
and  some  who  keep  the  records  of  the  schools. 

Furthermore,  the-  school  system  grows  complicated  on  the 
material  side.  Buildings  have  to  be  erected  and  'cared  for.  Land 
has  to  be  evaluated  and  cared  for.  Some  people  think  that  all  this 
is  an  open  book  to  everyone  who  is  in  business.  The  fact  is 
that  knowledge  of  school  equipment  is  just  as  highly  specialized 
knowledge  as  knowledge  of  railroad  equipment.  A  wholesale 
grocer  would  not  think  of  himself  as  competent  to  estimate  the 
cost  of  Pullman  cars  just  because  he  knows  about  business.  The 
better  school  systems  now  have  accounting  methods  in  schools 
which  bring  out  such  matters  as  the  cost  per  unit  of  teaching  in 
high  schools  and  elementary  schools,  the  standard  cost  of  instruc- 
tion in  different  subjects,  and  the  cost  of  school  equipments  as 
related  to  their  sanitary  and  hygienic  fitness. 


DELEGATING  RESPONSIBILITY  69 

Every  complete  school  system  has  its  business  interests  in  the 
hands  of  competent  specialists  who  know  about  school  costs  in 
detail  and  in  particular. 

MAKING  THE  MACHINE  WORK  SMOOTHLY 

By  the  time  a  school  system  reaches  the  point  where  it  has  all 
these  specialists,  it  becomes  necessary  to  give  much  attention  to 
the  central  planning  of  a  scheme  of  operation  which  shall  make 
the  whole  machine  work  smoothly.  There  must  be  a  central  office 
where  management  is  provided.  In  setting  up  this  central  office 
there  has  been  a  great  deal  of  experimenting.  Sometimes  a  teacher 
has  been  put  in  charge ;  sometimes  a  board  member,  in  such  case 
the  president  of  the  board  has  taken  charge.  Some  years  ago 
the  city  of  Cleveland  tried  the  experiment  of  putting  a  business 
manager  in  charge.  This  business  manager  appointed  the  super- 
intendent of  instruction.  If  one  goes  back  into  the  history  of 
Chicago,  he  finds  that  a  business  manager  to  take  charge  of 
school  lands  was  appointed  two  years  before  the  superintendent 
of  instruction  was  appointed. 

Gradually  out  of  all  the  experimenting  there  has  arisen  a  new 
type  of  school  officer,  a  superintendent  of  schools  who  is  a  trained 
school  manager.  This  manager  does  not  teach ;  he  does  not  shovel 
coal  into  the  furnaces  in  the  schools ;  he  does  exactly  what  the 
head  of  any  great  corporation  does ;  he  organizes  the  undertaking. 
He  must  know  human  nature ;  he  must  know  how  to  get  reports ; 
he  must  know  how  to  tell  the  people  about  the  needs  of  their 
schools ;  he  must  know  how  to  straighten  out  tangles  ;  and  he  must 
know  how  to  judge  results.  This  manager  must  give  his  whole 
time  to  getting  the  machinery  to  work  and  keeping  it  in  order. 

In  a  large  school  system  the  manager's  office  will  be  subdivided 
and  there  will  need  to  be  some  further  organization  to  keep  it  from 
falling  apart  There  will  be  one  person  in  such  an  office  who  will 
know  more  about  heating  school  buildings  and  one  who  will  know 
about  the  quality  of  teaching.  The  more  the  subdivision  the  more 
precautions  necessary  to  hold  all  parts  of  the  system  together.1 

1  Bulletin  No.  i  of  the  Public  Kducation  Association  of  Chicago,  1917, 
PP-  3-5 


70       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  OF  SUPERINTENDENTS 

Another  recent  document  which  throws  much  light  on 
the  problem  of  the  relation  between  school  officers  is  a 
report  presented  to  the  Department  of  Superintendence, 
a  division  of  the  National  Education  Association.  This 
report  opens  with  extracts  from  a  number  of  letters  from 
superintendents  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  The  discussion 
then  proceeds  as  follows  : 

OBSOLETE  ADMINISTRATION  SYSTEM 

The  impression  which  a  careful  study  of  this  material  [referring 
to  the  material  upon  which  the  report  is  based]  makes  on  one's 
mind  is  the  painful  one  that  most  administrative  situations  are 
undefined  and  shifting.  Schools  are  administered,  sometimes  well, 
sometimes  badly,  but  in  most  cases  without  clear  definition  of 
responsibility  or  authority.  Public  interests  are  fortunately  pro- 
tected in  most  instances,  but  the  machinery  is  the  primitive 
machinery  of  the  vigilance  committee,  with  now  the  super- 
intendent, now  the  board  of  education,  now  the  city  council,  now 
a  parents'  association,  trying  to  determine  what  steps  shall  be 
taken  to  promote  public  welfare. 

STATUS  OF  SUPERINTENDENCY  VARIES 

In  such  a  situation  the  accidents  of  personal  influence  play  an 
unjustifiable  part.  Several  of  the  letters  from  successful  super- 
intendents state  explicitly  or  show  between  the  lines  that  they  are 
entirely  in  control  of  the  policies  of  the  schools.  Some  go  so  far 
as  to  say  that  any  effort  to  define  the  responsibilities  and  authority 
of  the  superintendent  would  curtail  their  influence  and  would  there-1 
fore  be  undesirable.  At  the  other  end  of  the  scale  are  reports 
which  show  that  the  superintendent  is*  shorn  of  all  influence.  In 
many  cases  he  is  little  more  than  a  clerk,  dependent  from  day  to 
day  on  the  accidents  of  the  board's  attitude  for  the  meager  author- 
ity which  he  tries  to  exercise.  In  some  cases  he  goes  to  the  board 
meeting  only  when  especially  invited.  He  has  teachers  sent  to 
him  by  the  board,  and  he  knows  nothing  about  the  financial 


DELEGATING  RESPONSIBILITY  71 

management  of  the  system.  Such  a  superintendent  usually  recom- 
mends the  adoption  of  a  state  law  endowing  his  office  with  rights. 
The  extreme  situations  referred  to  above  may  occur  within  a 
single  state,  showing  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  typical  and 
clearly  defined  American  school  administration. 

DISTRICT  CONTROL  DISCARDED  SYSTEM  OF  SCHOOL 
ADMINISTRATION 

The  origin  of  the  present  situation  is  not  far  to  seek.  American 
schools  were  first  controlled  by  the  citizens  of  the  district.  They 
met  in  intimate  neighborhood  groups  and  settled  the  problems 
relating  to  their  children.  Communities  were  fairly  homogeneous, 
the  course  of  study  was  simple,  school  buildings  were  all  about 
equally  unsanitary,  and  teachers  were  equally  untrained.  A  ma- 
jority vote  was  a  democratic  and  accepted  method  of  carrying 
the  community  through  these  undesirables. 

AN  EFFECTIVE  SUBSTITUTE  TO   BE  DISCOVERED 

Within  a  half  century  all  this  has  changed.  We  know  to-day  that 
every  center  in  a  state  is  involved  in  the  behavior  of  each  of  its 
communities.  Indeed,  our  generation  is  witnessing  the  assumption 
by  the  federal  government  of  an  influence  and  authority  in  educa- 
tion which  is  without  precedent  in  American  history.  This  is  not 
the  place  to  comment  at  length  on  these  changes,  but  one  result 
is  absolutely  certain  —  the  simple  district  control  of  schools  is  gone. 
It  remains  for  us  to  decide  what  we  shall  have  in  its  place.  What 
we  have  to-day  is  a  series  of  experiments  of  every  variety  that  can 
be  set  up  through  the  exercise  of  human  imagination.  Most  of 
these  experiments  are  going  on  behind  closed  doors.  Most  of  them 
involve  sooner  or  later  a  conflict  of  authority.  Very  few  of  them  are 
understood  by  the  people  of  the  communities  in  which  they  exist. 

DANGERS  OF  THIS   PERIOD  OF  ADJUSTMENT 

The  result  is,  first,  much  clumsy  administration,  even  where 
everybody  acts  in  the  spirit  of  most  cordial  cooperation.  Matters 
of  vital  importance  to  the  school  are  delayed.  Secondly,  baneful 
agencies,  seeking  to  profit  unjustly,  can  set  up  in  the  school 


72       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

system  influences  which  would  have  no  weight  if  there  were  clear 
and  definite  responsibility  and  authority.  Thirdly,  the  people  of  the 
community,  being  uncertain  about  what  is  going  on,  often  become 
restless  and  critical  and  unwilling  to  give  adequate  support  to  the 
schools.  Fourthly,  the  teaching  staff  sometimes  becomes  demoral- 
ized and  relatively  inefficient,  at  times  the  disorganization  goes  so 
far  that  teachers  are  actually  and  openly  antagonistic  to  the  board 
or  superintendent,  or  both.1 

ORGANIZATION  UNDER  SCIENTIFIC  PRINCIPLES 

It  is  by  no  means  simple  to  prescribe  a  remedy  for  the 
difficulties  which  these  quotations  have  described.  When 
a  democratic  community  delegates  its  unlimited  powers  to 
a  number  of  different  classes  of  people,  there  is  sure  to  be  a 
succession  of  problems  of  adjustment.  Ultimately  all  parties 
will  come  to  recognize  the  fact  that  educational  problems 
can  be  solved  only  when  a  full  study  of  the  situation  is  sub- 
stituted for  personal  opinion.  Every  party  will  have  to  be 
ready  to  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  a  thorough  scientific 
statement  of  the  conditions  and  results  of  school  work. 

Fortunately,  examples  are  not  far  to  seek  of  school  admin- 
istration which  is  based  on  scientific  study.  Two  conspicuous 
examples  will  serve  the  purposes  of  this  exposition. 

CONTROL  OF  SCHOOL  WORK  THROUGH  TESTS 

In  the  city  of  Detroit  there  has  been  carried  on  for  the 
last  three  years  a  systematic  series  of  tests  in  the  funda- 
mental school  subjects.  The  teachers-in-training  in  the  city 
normal  school  are  given  courses  in  tests  and  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  results  so  that  they  carry  into  the  school  from 
year  to  year  the  type  of  preparation  which  makes  them 
intelligent  and  sympathetic  from  the  first. 

1  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Relation  between  Boards  of  Education 
and  Superintendents,  in  Journal  of  the  National  Education  Association, 
Vol.  I,  No.  9  (May,  1917),  pp.  967-968. 


DELEGATING  RESPONSIBILITY  73 

At  first  some  unhappy  results  followed  the  wholesale  meas- 
urement of  results.  Many  of  the  teachers  thought  that  the 
method  was  arbitrary  and  that  their  work  would  be  misrep- 
resented. Even  the  good  teachers  were  afraid.  They  had 
been  accustomed  to  the  purely  personal  type  of  supervision 
based  on  opinion  and  answerable,  when  occasion  demanded, 
by  opinion.  The  teachers  who  were  not  sure  of  the  success 
of  their  work  were  violent  in  their  objections.  The  Board 
of  Education,  which  at  the  beginning  of  the  testing  was 
composed  of  some  of  the  cheapest  politicians  in  the  city, 
led  the  attack  on  what  they  termed  a  fad  and  a  theory. 

Experience  has,  however,  justified  in  fullest  measure  super- 
vision by  a  measurement  of  results.  It  has  become  increas- 
ingly clear  to  all  teachers  that  tests  show  clearly  where  the 
work  is  strong  and  where  it  is  weak.  Not  only  so,  but  the 
tests  help  the  teacher  to  determine  with  precision  the  exact 
points  where  the  results  need  to  be  improved. 

Above  and  beyond  this,  however,  is  the  advantage  which 
has  come  to  the  schools  in  their  relation  to  the  community. 
No  longer  is  it  necessary  for  teachers  to  speak  in  uncertain 
terms  of  their  work.  If  the  community  will  listen,  it  is 
possible  for  the  Detroit  school  officials  to  make  clear  by 
scientific  reports  based  on  tests  exactly  what  is  going  on 
in  every  school  and  in  every  grade. 

The  community  showed  its  appreciation  of  the  type  of 
school  management  which  was  intelligent  enough  to  base 
itself  on  exact  studies  of  results  by  doing  away  absolutely 
with  the  corrupt  and  inefficient  board  and  electing  in  its 
place  a  group  of  thoroughly  representative  citizens  who  are 
supporting  scientific  management  and  developing  the  schools 
along  lines  dictated  by  such  management. 

The  example  of  Detroit  is  by  no  means  the  only  one 
which  could  be  cited.  An  increasing  number  of  cities  are 
revising  their  courses,  training  their  teachers,  and  educating 
the  communities  by  similar  methods. 


74       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

A  STUDY  OF  THE  BUILDING  NEEDS  OF  A  CITY 

One  other  example  must  suffice  for  the  present,  since  the 
subsequent  chapters  of  this  book  are  devoted  to  the  treat- 
ment in  outline  of  the  various  types  of  scientific  inquiry 
which  ought  to  govern  school  organization.  This  example 
is  borrowed  from  a  report  prepared  in  1916  by  the  superin- 
tendent of  schools  of  the  city  of  Minneapolis. 

In  a  pamphlet  entitled  "A  Million  a  Year  "  there  is  laid 
before  the  citizens  of  Minneapolis  a  clear  statement,  first,  of 
what  they  had  been  doing  in  the  way  of  erecting  school 
buildings  for  the  seven  years  preceding  the  report.  The 
report  then  shows  in  detail  what  buildings  cost,  through  a 
careful  analysis  of  the  records  for  earlier  buildings.  Then 
come  statements  of  the  uses  of  schools  and  the  conditions 
which  determine  the  kind  of  building  which  should  be  put 
up  in  each  section  of  the  city.  Estimates  are  given  in  great 
detail  of  the  needs  for  five  years,  and  the  city  is  asked  to 
act  on  the  situation  as  thus  described. 

The  spirit  of  the  study  can  be  clearly  seen  from  the 
introduction,  which  is  worth  repeating  in  full. 

Why  a  five-year  school  building  program  ?  The  reasons  are : 
that  the  Board  of  Education  may  be  able  to  calculate  for  some 
time  ahead  the  financial  resources  available  to  meet  building  needs 
as  these  develop ;  that  the  numerous  children  of  those  sections  of 
the  city  whose  citizenry  may  not  be  over-insistent  and  persistent  in 
their  demands  for  improved  and  enlarged  school  accommodations 
may  be  as  well  provided  as  the  children  of  other  sections  whose 
needs,  real  or  fancied,  are  vigorously  and  incessantly  pushed ;  in  short, 
that  there  may  be  established  and  carried  out  a  deliberately  formu- 
lated, comprehensive  and  consistent  policy  of  providing  adequate 
and  equitable  building  accommodations  for  all  children  of  the  city. 

The  program,  as  herein  outlined,  is  the  result  of  nearly  a  year's 
study  by  the  Board  of  Education,  by  a  special  committee  of  the 
Board,  and  by  the  executive  officers  of  the  Board.  . 

In  making  this  study  and  in  formulating  this  program,  the  Board 
has  invited  and  has  received  the  suggestions  and  the  cooperation 


DELEGATING  RESPONSIBILITY  75 

of  Parents  and  Teachers'  Associations  throughout  the  city.  Two 
public  hearings  on  the  subject  were  given,  to  which  each  of  the 
sixty-two  associations  was  invited  to  send  representatives.  Each 
association  was  also  invited  to  submit  in  writing  the  needs  of  the 
district  represented  as  it  saw  them. 

A  generous,  indeed  an  almost  unanimous,  response  was  received 
to  both  these  invitations.  The  educational  policies  involved  in  the 
program  have  been  discussed  by  the  principals  of  the  schools  and 
by  the  Educational  Council.  It  has  been  the  effort  of  the  Board 
throughout  to  enlist  the  thoughtful  help  of  those  chiefly  and  most 
immediately  concerned. 

The  program  is  published  now  in  order  to  give  still  wider  pub- 
licity to  the  interests  it  represents.  It  is  still  a  tentative  program, 
subject  to  such  modifications  as  may  result  from  further  study 
by  the  Board  and  from  suggestions  and  criticisms  that  may  come 
from  any  one  interested,  whether  individual  citizen  or  organization. 
Such  suggestions  and  criticisms  the  Board  invites. 

This  program,  modified  as  it  may  be,  will  be  made  the  basis  of 
necessary  legislation,  which  is  to  be  the  first  step  in  carrying  it  out. 
Such  legislation,  to  provide  the  necessary  funds,  whether  by  bond 
issue  or  special  tax  levy,  will  be  sought  of  the  next  Legislature. 

The  people  of  Minneapolis  should  understand  clearly  that  the  Board 
of  Education  has  no  means  whatever  of  carrying  into  effect  this,  or 
any  other,  building  program,  for  the  Board  has  no  power  to  raise  one 
cent  of  money,  either  by  bond  issue  or  through  tax  levy.  The  State 
Legislature  only  has  power  to  authorize  bond  issues  and  tax  levies  ; 
on  the  authorization  of  the  State  Legislature,  only  the  City  Council 
may  sell  bonds.  On  recommendation  of  the  Board  of  Tax  Levy,  the 
Board  of  Education  may  levy  taxes  within  the  maximum  approved. 

The  Board  of  Education,  representing  the  people  of  the  city  in 
their  educational  interests,  is  formulating  this  building  program. 
If  this  program  meets  the  approval  of  the  people,  the  Board  of 
Education  will  be  pleased  to  carry  it  into  effect.  Before  the  Board 
can  do  this,  however,  the  people,  through  their  representatives  in 
the  Legislature,  in  the  Board  of  Tax  Levy,  and  in  the  City  Council, 
must  provide  the  necessary  funds.1 

1  A  Million  a  Year,  pp.  v-vi.  Monograph  No.  i.  published  by  the  Hoard 
of  Education,  Minneapolis.  Minnesota,  1916. 


76       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

THE  ERRORS  OF  DEMOCRACY 

The  funds  asked  for  were  voted  by  the  people.  It  would 
not  be  a  complete  statement  of  the  facts,  however,  to  omit 
the  statement  that  an  unfavorable  reaction  came  in  the  form 
of  a  new  board  of  education  which  at  once  began  to  blockade 
the  kind  of  policy  represented  by  this  study. 

American  cities  proceed  slowly  to  a  full  realization  of  the 
possibilities  of  a  satisfactory  school  organization.  Democracy 
always  masters  its  problems  slowly  and  after  many  slips. 
The  hopeful  fact  is  that  more  communities  are  providing 
agencies  for  the  scientific  study  of  their  school  problems 
and  are  following  in  their  organization  the  results  of  such 
study. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

In  most  communities  there  arise,  from  time  to  time,  demands 
for  new  school  legislation,  or  there  occur  controversies  within  the 
board  of  education  or  with  regard  to  the  superintendent  of  schools 
and  his  authority.  As  a  practical  lesson  in  democratic  government 
the  study  of  the  changes  that  occur  at  such  a  time  is  very  informing. 

If  there  is  no  such  exceptionally  clear  exhibition  of  the  complex- 
ity of  our  public-school  government,  let  the  student  find  out  what 
are  the  personal  and  professional  characteristics  of  some  board  of 
education. 

Would  it  be  better,  in  some  city  known  to  the  student,  to  elect 
a  board  or  to  have  it  appointed  ?  Is  a  definition  by  law  of  the 
rights  and  duties  of  a  superintendent  advantageous,  or  should 
the  superintendent  acquire  all  the  power  and  influence  he  can  get 
from  the  board  ?  Should  a  board  of  education  examine  textbooks  ? 
Should  it  determine  the  scale  of  salaries  to  be  paid  to  teachers  ? 

If  a  class  does  very  poorly  in  a  test  in  arithmetic,  what  are  some 
of  the  different  interpretations  that  can  be  put  on  this  fact  ?  Is 
the  superintendent  responsible,  or  the  teacher,  or  the  home  ? 

Our  American  cities  change  teachers  and  superintendents  fre- 
quently. What  are  the  elements  of  cost  which  enter  into  such 
a  change  ? 


DELEGATING  RESPONSIBILITY  77 

The  best  kind  of  material  for  reading  under  this  chapter  is 
a  superintendent's  school  report  or  one  of  the  reports  of  a  survey 
of  a  city  school  system. 

CUBBERLEY,  E.  P.,  and  others.  Portland  Survey.  School  Efficiency 
Series.  World  Book  Company.  This  is  one  of  the  first  strong  school 
surveys,  and  takes  up  very  fully  the  functions  of  the  different  officers 
of  the  school  system.  The  parts  dealing  with  administration  are 
largely  the  work  of  Professor  Cubberley,  whose  work  on  administra- 
tion was  referred  to  under  the  last  chapter. 

MAC  Ax  DREW,  W.  The  Public  and  its  School.  World  Book  Company. 
A  humorous  report  dealing  in  an  interesting  and  striking  way  with 
a  number  of  administrative  problems. 

Seventeenth  Yearbook  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Educa- 
tion. Part  1 1.  The  Measurement  of  Educational  Products.  Prepared 
by  the  National  Association  of  Directors  of  Educational  Research. 
Public  School  Publishing  Co.,  Bloomington,  Illinois.  This  report 
gives  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  work  which  is  being  done  by 
efficiency  experts  in  public-school  systems. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  SCHOOL  BUILDING 

THE  BUILDING  AS  AN  EVIDENCE  OF  A  COMMUNITY'S 
EDUCATIONAL  VIEWS 

A  study  of  school  buildings  furnishes  in  very  concrete 
form  evidence  of  the  new  spirit  which  has  come  into  school 
organization.  The  old-fashioned  school  building  was  copied 
from  the  church.  In  its  externals  it  often  showed  its  ante- 
cedents by  the  tower  and  steeple,  which  sometimes  housed 
the  bell  and  sometimes  served  merely  as  an  ornament.  In 
its  interior  there  was  little  or  no  evidence  of  careful  adapta- 
tion of  the  space  to  its  uses.  Small  windows,  high  from  the 
floor  and  narrow  in  the  space  admitting  light,  were  scattered 
along  three  sides  of  the  room.  Across  the  fourth  side  of 
the  room  was  a  raised  platform  for  the  teacher.  The  roof 
was  high  and  made  the  space  below  difficult  to  heat.  A  stove 
was  the  means  of  heating ;  it  gave  out  an  excess  of  heat 
to  the  immediate  neighborhood  and  proved  inadequate  for 
making  the  remote  corners  habitable.  The  seats  were  narrow 
benches,  often  without  backs.  In  the  schools  of  earlier  days 
these  benches  ran  around  the  room,  the  pupils  facing  the 
wall,  to  which  was  fastened  a  board  that  served  as  a  desk  on 
which  the  pupil  might  write  or  lay  his  book.  In  later  schools 
the  benches  were  arranged  in  rows,  the  desk  of  one  row  eco- 
nomically furnishing  a  back  for  the  bench  in  front.  Add  to 
all  this  a  common  drinking  cup  in  a  pail  of  water  and  sani- 
tary arrangements  of  the  most  primitive  type,  and  we  have  a 
picture  of  almost  complete  disregard  for  human  comfort  and 
hygiene.  More  than  this,  we  see  in  such  a  school  building 

78 


THE  SCHOOL  BUILDING 


79 


the  clearest  evidence  of  a  conception  of  education  which 
was  limited  to  the  barest  rudiments.  There  was  no  provision 
for  varied  activities  in  a  school  building  of  the  older  type. 
Kitchens  in  which  the  girls  learn  to  cook,  shops  for  the 
boys,  laboratories  for  courses  in  science,  playrooms  and 
libraries,  to  say  nothing  of  swimming  pools  and  baths, 
were  never  thought  of,  be- 
cause the  course  of  study 
was  limited  strictly  to  the 
three  R's. 

The  modern  school 
building  is  the  embodi- 
ment of  a  wholly  new 
conception  of  education. 
The  building  is  con- 
structed with  the  utmost 
deference  to  the  demands 
of  hygiene.  The  placing 
of  windows,  the  means  of 
heating  and  ventilating, 
the  style  and  arrangement 
of  seats,  have  all  been 
considered  in  every  pos- 
sible detail.  When  the 
demands  of  hygiene  have 
been  met,  the  various 


CLHSSROOM 
2*  X  36 


FIG.  6.    Floor  plan  of  a  typical  school 
building  of  the  old  style 


needs  of  the  school  are 
studied,  and  the  rooms 
and  equipment  are  arranged  with  the  fullest  possible  regard 
for  an  enriched  course  of  study.  The  exterior  of  the  build- 
ing reflects  the  interest  of  the  community  in  aesthetics.  It 
is  commonly  surrounded  by  an  ample  playground  and  often 
has  a  garden  as  well.  These  changes  from  the  barren  build- 
ings of  earlier  days  show  that  education  is  thought  of  as 
related  to  the  common  life  of  children. 


8o       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 


CONTRASTS  IN  PLANS  OF  RURAL  SCHOOLS 

A  number  of  concrete  contrasts  will  perhaps  serve  to  give 
the  reader  who  is  likely  to  be  familiar  only  with  modern 
school  equipment  some  idea  of  the  long  road  that  has  been 
traveled  in  the  evolution  of  the  American  school  system. 

A  ground  plan  fur- 
nished by  a  bulletin  of 
the  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion J  shows  (Fig.  6) 
the  old-fashioned  one- 
room  school  with  its 
small  windows  and 
inadequate  heating. 
The  light  from  these 
windows  is  badly  dis- 
tributed. The  wide 
wall  spaces  between 
windows  leave  long 
dark  spaces  across  the 
room.  The  fact  that 
there  are  windows  on 
many  sides  makes  it 

necessary   for    some- 
FIG.  7.    Floor  plan  of  a  well-arranged  one-  J 

teacher  rural  school  of  minimum  cost  one  to  face  glaring 

lights  on  bright  days 

and  results  in  all  sorts  of  cross  lights  and  shadows.  The 
other  features  of  the  plan,  including  the  stove,  were  com- 
mented on  in  an  earlier  paragraph. 

A  second  ground  plan  (Fig.  7)  shows  a  well-arranged, 
simple  rural  school.  The  light  comes  from  one  side  of  the 
room.  There  is  provision  for  many  different  activities,  and 
a  system  of  ventilating  and  heating  has  been  substituted  for 


r      WINDOWS  8'ABOl/E  FLOOR 

'  | 

WORK- 

ROOM 
10'x   12* 

CLASSROOM 

LIBRARY 

22  X  36 

OFFICE 
lO'x    14* 

\ 

1                                            JHCKETED 
STOVE  /'""N 
\J 

11—11 

DRINKING/ 
FOUNTRIN' 

TORCH 
lO'x   10' 

^^ 

CLOAKROOM 

e'x  ie' 

FUEL 
ROOM 

e'x  e' 

]  

1  Fletcher  B.  Dressier,  "  Rural  School  Houses  and  Grounds."   Bulletin 
No.  12,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  1914. 


THE  SCHOOL  BUILDING 


81 


the  stove  of  former  days.  The  stove  is  inclosed  in  a  jacket. 
Into  this  jacket  opens  an  intake  which  brings  fresh  air  from 
outside.  A  pipe  carries  the  heated  air  to  various  parts  of 
the  room,  insuring  its  adequate  distribution. 

The  externals  of  the  situation  are  depicted  in  Fig.  8. 


FIG.  8.    An  old  and  a  new  rural  school 

CONTRASTS  IN  URBAN  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOLS 

The  evolution  is  even  more  impressive  when  it  appears  in 
the  many-roomed  schoolhouses  of  a  city  system.  The  fol- 
lowing paragraphs  and  figures  from  the  Cleveland  survey 
show  how  complete  has  been  the  transformation  of  a  half 
century : 

The  type  of  building  erected  during  the  50*5  is  well  represented 
by  the  Alabama  School,  although  this  particular  building  was  not 
completed  until  1861.  Several  buildings  of  this  general  type  are 
still  in  use  in  the  city.  ...  In  these  early  buildings  the  rooms 
were  large  and  accommodated  enormous  numbers  of  children. 
Classes  ranged  from  100  to  200  in  each  room.  There  was  hardly 
a  square  foot  of  waste  space  in  these  buildings.  Originally  they 


82       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

contained  no  corridors,  no  wardrobes,  no  toilets,  no  storerooms,  no 
running  water,  and  no  heating  plants  except  stoves.1  [Figs.  9  A 
and  9  B.] 

The  Empire  School,  completed  in  the  fall  of  1915,  represents 
the  most  modern  type  of  school  architecture.  It  is  entirely  fire- 
proof and  so  constructed  that  new  wings  may  be  added  for  future 
extensions  without  injuring  either  the  utility  or  the  symmetry  of 
the  building.  In  appearance  these  newest  buildings  are  great 
improvements  over  their  immediate  predecessors  and  educationally 
they  are  far  superior.  The  windows,  are  banked  in  sets  of  five  and 
the  masonry  is  so  shaped  as  to  cut  off  a  minimum  of  light.  Audi- 
toriums have  slanted  floors  like  theaters,  are  unobstructed  by 
pillars,  and  have  real  stages  instead  of  platforms. 

Gymnasiums  for  boys  and  for  girls,  swimming  pool,  playrooms, 
toilets,  shower  baths,  auditorium,  library,  shops,  and  domestic 
science  rooms  can  all  be  shut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  building  so 
that  they  can  be  conveniently  used  for  social  and  community 
center  purposes.  In  these  schools  mouldings  are  done  away  with, 
doors  have  no  paneling,  corners  of  floors  and  ceilings  are  smooth 
and  rounded,  stairways  have  solid  balustrades,  and  every  endeavor 
is  made  to  leave  dust  and  dirt  no  lodging  place.  Piping  for  vacuum 
cleaning,  and  the  most  modern  heating,  ventilating,  and  regulating 
apparatus  are  installed.2  [Figs.  10  A  and  10  B.] 

A  HIGH-SCHOOL  BUILDING  OF  THE  EARLY  TYPE 

A  similar  lesson  may  be  drawn  from  the  study  of  high- 
school  buildings  of  successive  generations.  The  following 
quotation  from  the  Denver  survey  shows  how  limited  was 
the  earlier  conception  of  the  school  and  its  doings. 

The  course  of  study  in  this  school  [the  East  Side  High  School] 
was  from  the  first  a  rigorous,  disciplinary  course,  dominated  by 
literary  and  classical  interests.  The  issue  between  science  and  the 

1  Leonard  P.  Ayres  and  May  Ayres,  School  Buildings  and  Equipment, 
p.  23.    Cleveland  Education  Survey.    Published  by  the  Survey  Committee 
of  the  Cleveland  Foundation,  1916. 

2  Ibid.  p.  3S. 


! 


'H 

(iU       CN 


84       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 


FIG.  10  A.   Ground  plan  of  Empire  School 


FIG.  10  B.    Exterior  of  Empire  School 

classics  was  clearly  drawn  even  in  the  early  years  of  the  East  Side 
High  School's  history,  but  the  victory  has  always  been  with  the 
literary  subjects.  .  .  . 

The  kind  of  a  course  of  study  which  was  thought  of  as  necessary 
in  those  early  days  reflected  itself  in  the  kind  of  a  building  which 
was  erected.  The  East  Side  High  School  building  was,  in  its  day, 


THE  SCHOOL  BUILDING  85 

a  conspicuous  model  of  high-school  architecture.  The  high  ceilings 
and  great  corridors  and  large  classrooms  showed  the  generous 
intention  of  the  citizens  of  Denver.  There  were,  however,  no 
gymnasium,  no  lunch  room,  no  shop  for  manual  training,  and  no 
special  equipments  for  science  courses.  In  short,  the  East  Side 
High  School  stands  as  a  conservative  example  of  a  school,  strong 
in  its  early  days,  but  unable  in  these  days  to  take  on  the  progres- 
sive features  of  a  first-class  high  school  because  of  physical  limita- 
tions and  because  of  the  hampering  traditions  which  come  from  a 
successful  past.1 

THE  HYGIENE  OF  LIGHTING 

Lest  the  individual  teacher  should  regard  these  matters 
of  architecture  as  very  remote  from  his  or  her  personal 
interests,  let  us  comment  on  the  evil  effects  of  neglect  of 
some  of  the  hygienic  problems  which  the  modern  school  is 
designed  to  solve. 

When  light  is  badly  distributed,  there  is  a  strain  on  the 
eyes  which  results  in  unfavorable  physiological  conditions. 
These  unfavorable  conditions  sometimes  take  the  form  of  a 
congestion  of  the  blood  vessels  in  and  around  the  eye,  with 
consequent  feelings  of  discomfort  and  inability  to  work. 
These  unfavorable  results  may  appear  both  in  pupils  andr 
in  the  teacher.  The  conditions  are  not  clearly  recognizable 
through  any  signs  of  fatigue  which  the  person  affected  can 
readily  localize,  for  we  have  no  sense  organ  giving  direct 
sensations  of  fatigue.  The  result  is  that  the  person  is 
unable  to  do  his  work,  but  does  not  know,  unless  he  has 
made  a  special  study  of  the  problem,  what  the  difficulty  is 
or  how  to  remedy  it.  Evidently  the  problem  of  lighting 
cannot  be  left  to  natural  judgment,  and  every  physical 
appliance  for  proper  control  and  distribution  of  illumination 
should  be  provided. 

1  Report  of  the  School  Survey  of  School  District  Number  One  in  the 
City  and  County  of  Denver,  pp.  134-135.  Published  by  the  School  Survey 
Committee,  Denver,  Colorado,  1916. 


86       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

THE  HYGIENE  OF  VENTILATION  AND  HEATING 

In  regard  to  ventilation  and  heating  the  situation  is 
much  the  same  as  with  lighting.  Until  recently  all  public 
buildings  were  without  special  provisions  for  ventilation,  it 
being  assumed  that  enough  air  would  come  in  through  doors 
and  windows.  The  private  dwelling  was  the  model  followed 
in  this  matter.  A  dwelling  occupied  by  a  few  people  leaks 
enough  fresh  air  so  that  even  when  all  the  windows  are 
closed  the  air  is  tolerable.  When  fifty  or  a  hundred  people 
in  a  public  building  are  crowded  into  a  space  that  is  propor- 
tionately much  smaller  than  the  space  in  a  dwelling  and 
when,  furthermore,  through  improvements  in  methods  of 
construction  the  leakage  of  fresh  air  is  almost  entirely 
stopped,  the  situation  calls  for  artificial  means  of  introduc- 
ing air  and  distributing  it.  The  situation  with  regard  to 
fresh  air  is  complicated  in  all  colder  climates  by  the  ne- 
cessity of  producing  and  conserving  artificial  heat.  Modern 
heating  arrangements  are  capable  of  maintaining  large 
buildings  at  a  summer  temperature  even  in  the  coldest 
weather,  but  in  order  to  do  this  at  reasonable  cost  the 
building  must  be  made  as  nearly  air-tight  as  possible.  The 
temperatures  secured  through  artificial-heating  plants  have 
also  brought  another  evil.  The  air  raised  to  a  high  tempera- 
ture is  abnormal  in  humidity  because  it  is  taken  from  out- 
doors, where  it  is  cold  and  the  humidity  is  low,  and  is  raised 
by  heating  to  a  condition  where  it  can  absorb  a  great  quan- 
tity of  moisture.  Such  air  is  very  dry  and  takes  moisture  in 
an  excessive  degree  from  the  moist  linings  of  the  human 
respiratory  tracts  and  thus  irritates  and  fatigues  the  people 
exposed  to  the  dry  air,  becoming  a  serious  menace  to  com- 
fort and  even  to  health.  To  meet  these  difficulties  it  has 
been  necessary  to  introduce  into  all  public  buildings  artificial 
ventilating  and  humidifying  systems.  Even  in  one-room 
rural  schools,  where  the  simpler  types  of  architecture  must 


THE  SCHOOL  BUILDING  87 

still  be  adhered  to,  it  is  common,  as  pointed  out  above,  to 
jacket  the  stove,  thus  making  it  possible  to  circulate  fresh 
air  and  to  introduce  an  evaporation  reservoir  which  will 
render  the  humidity  more  nearly  normal.  Above  all  it  is 
important  that  teachers  understand  that  these  matters  can- 
not be  left  to  mere  chance.  Life  indoors  is  artificial  at  best, 
and  its  conditions  must  be  guarded  as  carefully  as  possible. 

HYGIENIC  EQUIPMENT 

Not  merely  has  the  plan  of  the  building  been  improved, 
but  the  equipment  has  also  been  thoroughly  worked  over. 
Drinking  fountains  or  individual  drinking  cups  have  taken 
the  place  of  the  pail  and  tke  common  dipper.  Toilets  have 
been  furnished  in  a  way  which  makes  it  possible  to  keep 
them  clean  and  wholesome. 

The  matter  of  seats  may  be  discussed  from  both  points 
of  view  suggested  in  earlier  paragraphs,  that  is,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  attention  to  the  health  and  comfort  of 
pupils  and  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  work  which  pupils 
have  to  do  in  school.  The  old  uncomfortable  benches  have 
given  place  to  comfortable  individual  seats  which,  in  the  best- 
equipped  schools,  have  been  made  adjustable  so  that  they  fit 
the  individual  pupil.  Where  this  complete  adjustment  to 
individual  size  is  not  provided,  at  least  an  approximation  is 
secured  by  seats  of  two  or  three  heights  in  each  room. 
Desks  with  broad,  smooth,  sloping  tops  have  been  added  to 
make  writing  and  other  kinds  of  school  work  easy.  The 
most  recent  improvements  have  to  do  with  the  storage  of 
books  and  materials.  Formerly  the  pupil's  knees  were 
wedged  below  the  storage  drawer,  or  the  working  top  of  the 
desk  was  inconveniently  or  unhygienically  high.  The  storage 
drawer  is  now  being  relegated  to  a  position  under  the  chair 
or  to  a  locker  on  the  side  of  the  room. 


88       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

RELATION  OF  EQUIPMENT  TO  THE  COURSE  OF  STUDY 

The  adaptation  of  the  desk  to  the  pupil's  work  has  been 
carried  to  the  full  limit  in  the  shops  and  drawing  rooms 
and  domestic-science  laboratories  where  work  benches  and 
laboratory  equipment  have  been  substituted  for  the  conven- 
tional seats.  That  much  remains  to  be  accomplished  is  vividly 
set  forth  in  the  following  extract  from  the  writing  of  one  of 
the  most  suggestive  critics  of  the  present-day  school.  In 
the  second  chapter  of  "The  School  and  Society"  Professor 
Dewey  writes : 

Some  few  years  ago  I  was  looking  about  the  school  supply 
stores  in  the  city,  trying  to  find  desks  and  chairs  which  seemed 
thoroughly  suitable  from  all  points  of  view  —  artistic,  hygienic,  and 
educational  —  to  the  needs  of  the  children.  We  had  a  good  deal  of 
difficulty  in  finding  what  we  needed,  and  finally  one  dealer,  more 
intelligent  than  the  rest,  made  this  remark  :  "  I  am  afraid  we  have 
not  what  you  want.  You  want  something  at  which  the  children 
may  work ;  these  are  all  for  listening."  That  tells  the  story  of  the 
traditional  education.  Just  as  the  biologist  can  take  a  bone  or  two 
and  reconstruct  the  whole  animal,  so,  if  we  put  before  the  mind's 
eye  the  ordinary  schoolroom,  with  its  rows  of  ugly  desks  placed  in 
geometrical  order,  crowded  together  so  that  there  shall  be  as  little 
moving  room  as  possible,  desks  almost  all  of  the  same  size,  with 
just  space  enough  to  hold  books,  pencils  and  paper,  and  add  a 
table,  some  chairs,  the  bare  walls,  and  possibly  a  few  pictures,  we 
can  reconstruct  the  only  educational  activity  that  can  possibly  go 
on  in  such  a  place.  It  is  all  made  "  for  listening  "  —  for  simply 
studying  lessons  out  of  a  book  is  only  another  kind  of  listening ;  it 
marks  the  dependency  of  one  mind  upon  another.  The  attitude  of 
listening  means,  comparatively  speaking,  passivity,  absorption ; 
that  there  are  certain  ready-made  materials  which  are  there,  which 
have  been  prepared  by  the  school  superintendent,  the  board,  the 
teacher,  and  of  which  the  child  is  to  take  in  as  much  as  possible  in 
the  least  possible  time. 

There  is  very  little  place  in  the  traditional  schoolroom  for  the 
child  to  work.  The  workshop,  the  laboratory,  the  materials,  the 


THE  SCHOOL  BUILDING  89 

tools  with  which  the  child  may  construct,  create,  and  actively  in- 
quire, and  even  the  requisite  space,  have  been  for  the  most  part 
lacking.  The  things  that  have  to  do  with  these  processes  have  not 
even  a  definitely  recognized  place  in  education.  They  are  what  the 
educational  authorities  who  write  editorials  in  the  daily  papers 
generally  term  "  fads  "  and  "  frills."  A  lady  told  me  yesterday 
that  she  had  been  visiting  different  schools  trying  to  find  one 
where  activity  on  the  part  of  the  children  preceded  the  giving  of 
information  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  or  where  the  children  had 
some  motive  for  demanding  the  information.  She  visited,  she  said, 
twenty-four  different  schools  before  she  found  her  first  instance.1 

These  paragraphs  serve  to  indicate  the  close  relation 
between  school  equipment  and  the  course  of  study.  Since 
the  above  criticism  was  written,  general  conditions  have 
undergone  a  radical  change.  Shops  have  become  common, 
and  there  is  an  increasing  emphasis  on  activities.  Corre- 
spondingly, there  is  a  change  in  the  conception  of  the 
course  of  study,  as  we  shall  see  in  later  chapters. 

MODERN  SCHOOL  CONSTRUCTION  AND  COSTS 

In  the  meantime  the  erection  of  buildings  with  shops, 
auditoriums,  laboratories,  kitchens,  and  gymnasiums  has 
given  rise  to  new  and  urgent  problems.  First,  the  cost  of 
these  new  buildings  is  great,  and  many  school  boards  are 
driven  to  ask  whether  the  community  can  afford  to  erect 
them.  The  superintendent  of  schools  of  New  York  City 
recently  reported  to  the  Board  of  Education  of  that  city 
that  a  building  program  would  have  to  be  adopted  which 
would  cost  the  city  $40,000,000  in  a  period  of  five  years. 
In  order  to  provide  buildings  many  cities  have  been  obliged 
to  issue  bonds  which  will  fall,  in  the  years  to  come,  as  a 
financial  burden  on  the  generation  which  is  being  educated 
in  the  buildings. 

'John  Dcwcy.  The  School  and  Society,  pp.  47-49.  The  University  of 
Chicago  I'rcss,  1907. 


90       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

The  urgency  of  these  financial  problems  is  aggravated  by 
the  fact  that  in  many  school  systems  the  elaborate  buildings 
are  not  used  to  the  full  extent  of  their  capacity.  Indeed,  it 
comes  to  be  a  most  interesting  economic  and  educational 
problem  to  inquire  what  is  the  capacity  of  one  of  these  build- 
ings. For  example,  what  does  an  auditorium  represent  in 
the  way  of  actual  enlargement  of  the  school  plant  ?  Is  it 
merely  a  place  in  which  the  school  may  come  together  for 
a  general  exercise  once  a  week,  or  should  it  be  used  every 
day  ?  If  it  is  used  for  twenty  minutes  or  half  an  hour 
every  morning,  should  it  be  closed  during  the  remainder  of 
the  day  ?  As  a  matter  of  public  economy  should  it  be  made 
available  to  adults  at  hours  when  it  is  not  needed  for  school 
purposes,  as,  for  example,  in  the  evening  or  in  the  late 
afternoon  ? 

Such  questions  as  the  foregoing  multiply  with  every  new 
addition  to  the  buildings.  The  old  buildings  equipped  only 
for  study  and  recitations  were  economical  in  the  extreme ; 
the  new  buildings  are  often  lavish. 

THE  GARY  PLAN  FOR  DISTRIBUTING  PUPILS  AND 
ENLARGING  THE  SCOPE  OF  SCHOOL  WORK 

To  meet  the  problems  of  economy  and  of  adaptation  of 
buildings  to  educational  needs,  ingenious  ways  of  rotating 
classes  have  been  devised.  The  most  conspicuous  experi- 
ment of  this  type  is  that  worked  out  by  Superintendent 
Wirt  in  Gary,  Indiana.  Indeed,  Superintendent  Wirt  has 
advocated  the  most  elaborate  extension  of  the  school  build- 
ing and  its  grounds  and  a  corresponding  expansion  of  the 
school  program.  For  him  the  school  playground  becomes 
an  additional  space  of  great  importance  in  rotating  the 
pupils.  Shops  and  laboratories  are  to  be  kept  full  all  day 
and  even  in  the  evening ;  corridors  are  to  be  used  as  assem- 
bly rooms  and  recreational  spaces.  He  goes  so  far  as  to 


THE  SCHOOL  BUILDING  91 

draw  the  churches  and  the  public  library  into  his  plan. 
With  all  these  available  places  in  which  pupils  may  be 
instructed,  a  program  is  adopted  which  provides  that  each 
room  with  its 'special  teacher  be  continuously  engaged  in 
some  kind  of  teaching.  Pupils  are  sent  from  room  to  room, 
the  theory  being  that  each  room  shall  be  kept  full  at  all 
hours  and  that  each  pupil  shall  get  all  the  different  kinds  of 
advantages  which  the  elaborate  course  of  study  offers.  The 
reorganization  of  grade  work  which  is  necessary  to  carry 
out  this  program  reaches  deeper  than  the  addition  of  new 
subjects.  To  make  rotation  complete,  each  teacher  must  be 
a  special  teacher  and  the  pupils  must  move  from  room  to 
room.  Even  the  lowest  grades  must  be  organized  under 
what  is  known  as  the  departmental  plan.  Thus,  even  a 
second-grade  child  gets  his  reading  with  one  teacher  and 
his  arithmetic  with  another. 

REQUIREMENTS  TO  BE.  MET  WHEN  THE  GARY  PLAN 
is  ADOPTED 

The  Gary  plan  is  a  very  striking  example  of  the  relation 
between  the  school  plant  and  the  school  program.  In  many 
quarters  this  relation  has  not  been  clearly  recognized.  For 
example,  some  school  boards,  hearing  that  twice  as  many 
pupils  can  be  accommodated  in  a  Gary  building  as  in  an 
ordinary  school  building,  have  instructed  the  superintendents 
in  their  own  towns  to  adopt  the  Gary  plan.  The  superin- 
tendent has  to  answer :  We  have  an  old  four-square  build- 
ing which  is  full  in  every  available  corner,  there  are  no 
shops,  and  the  play  space  is  inadequate. 

He  often  has  to  go  further  and  question  the  advisability 
of  departmentalizing  the  teaching  in  the  lower  grades.  He 
is  sometimes  convinced  that  a  daily  program  which  includes 
many  kinds  of  activity  is  distracting  and  undesirable.  The 
adoption  of  a  new  building  plan  involves  the  course  of  study, 


92       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

and  the  adoption  of  a  new  policy  with  reference  to  the 
course  of  study  involves  the  use  of  the  building.  The  inter- 
esting fact  for  our  immediate  purposes  is  that  educational 
questions  that  have  to  do  with  the  content  of  the  course  of 
study  and  with  the  methods  of  teaching  are  always  related 
to  considerations  regarding  the  building. 

THE  CONSTRUCTION  OF  CONSOLIDATED  SCHOOLS 

Not  only  does  the  school  building  reflect  the  internal 
needs  of  the  school  organization  which  it  houses,  but  there 
is  also  a  close  relation  between  the  school  and  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  population  in  the  community.  A  sparsely  settled 
community  invariably  used  to  have  a  one-room  school,  be- 
cause the  distances  which  pupils  must  travel  are  such  that 
it  is  difficult  to  bring  together  enough  pupils  to  justify  a 
larger  building.  The  one-room  building  is  likely,  however, 
to  offer  only  the  most  meager  educational  opportunities. 
There  is  only  one  teacher.  There  are  no  adequate  provisions 
for  the  pupils  who  are  supposed  to  be  studying,  because 
this  one  teacher  in  the  one  room  must  be  hearing  a  class 
recite  on  some  subject  at  practically  every  period  in  the  day. 
The  one-room  building  does  not  satisfy  the  progressive 
community.  The  device  which  has  been  adopted  is  that  of 
consolidating  a  number  of  one-room  schools  and  transporting 
the  pupils  through  the  necessary  distances  to  make  possible 
large  schools  with  separate  rooms  for  pupils  of  different  ages. 
A  consolidated  school  has  facilities  which  are  impossible 
in  a  one-room  school.  These  facilities  cannot  be  described 
without  discussing  the  course  of  study  and  also  the  building 
and  equipment. 

The  following  quotation  gives  an  example  of  such  a 
discussion :  • 

In  Harrison  County,  Miss.,  about  8  miles  out  from  the  Gulf  and 
in  a  typical  south  Mississippi  rural  community,  may  be  found  the 


THE  SCHOOL  BUILDING  93 

Wool  Market  consolidated  school,  the  subject  of  this  brief  study. 
Three  medium-sized  one-teacher  schools  —  Coalville,  King,  and 
Oakhead  —  were  brought  together  two  years  ago  to  form  this 
school  near  the  Wool  Market  post  office,  on  the  Biloxi  River. 

The  new  house,  built  by  private  subscription  at  a  cost  of  about 
$2,000,  was  located  within  2  miles  of  all  the  children  in  two  of 
the  old  districts,  while  a  transportation  wagon  was  used  to  bring 
in  from  25  to  30  pupils  from  the  Oakhead  district,  about  3  miles 
from  the  new  schoolhouse.  The  territory  of  the  new  school  covers 
27  square  miles  and  now  has  within  its  bounds  134  children  of 
legal  school  age. 

Each  of  the  teachers  in  the  abandoned  schools,  having  from  30 
to  40  recitations  daily  to  cover  the  eight  grades  of  the  elementary 
and  grammar  grades,  had  no  time  to  do  high-school  work,  and  on 
that  account  had  no  high-school  pupils.  As  a  result  of  those  condi- 
tions the  patrons  who  were  able  financially  to  bear  the  expense 
sent  their  children  out  of  the  community  to  school  as  soon  as  they 
were  ready  for  the  high  school,  at  an  annual  cost  of  from  $150  to 
$200,  while  the  larger  number  were  forced  to  turn  aside  to  take 
up  life's  duties  and  responsibilities  with  only  the  meager  training 
obtained  in  these  little  schools.  Such  conditions  obtain  in  three- 
fourths  of  the  schools  in  the  South.  The  Wool  Market  consoli- 
dated school,  now  serving  the  same  territory,  has  23  high-school 
pupils  —  1 6  in  the  ninth  grade,  5  in  the  tenth  grade,  and  2  in  the 
eleventh  grade  —  and  20  pupils  in  the  music  and  expression  classes 
under  special  teachers. 

The  aggregate  average  attendance  for  the  original  schools  was 
60  pupils,  according  to  the  records,  while  the  average  attendance 
now  in  the  consolidated  school  is  no  pupils,  with  an  enrollment 
of  125.  There  are  only  9  children  of  school  age  in  the  district  not 
in  school.  In  the  old  schools  the  number  was  too  small  to  form  an 
attractive  social  center  and  to  justify  the  employment  of  special 
teachers,  but  the  new  school  is  fast  becoming  the  center  of  all 
social  activities  of  this  larger  community,  employs  special  teachers 
in  music  and  expression,  and  has  in  the  faculty  teachers  qualified 
to  give  instruction  in  practical  agriculture  and  domestic  science. 
In  the  interhigh-school  contests  last  spring  the  Wool  Market  con- 
solidated school,  though  only  two  years  old,  captured  a  fair  share 


94       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

of  the  medals  in  declamation  and  recitation,  while  the  girls'  basket- 
ball team  claims  the  county  championship. 

The  school  is  located  on  5  acres  of  land,  which  are  used  for 
playgrounds,  school  garden,  and  practical  agricultural  demonstra- 
tion work.  Dr.  Welch,  the  community  physician,  lectures  to  the 
school  once  a  week  on  hygiene  and  school  and  home  sanitation ; 
and  Mr.  W.  A.  Cox,  a  trustee  of  the  school  and  a  practical  farmer 
and  horticulturist,  gives  the  school  weekly  lectures  on  agricultural, 
horticultural,  and  allied  subjects. 

After  trying  the  consolidated  school  two  years  the  patrons  and 
other  citizens  of  the  Wool  Market  community  voluntarily  levied  a 
tax  of  $7  per  thousand  on  the  property  of  the  district  to  support 
the  school  for  an  eight  or  nine  months'  session. 

COMPARATIVE  STATISTICS 

Cost  of  the  three  teachers  in  old  school  per  month      .     .  $128 

Aggregate  attendance  in  the  three  schools 60 

Average  cost  per  pupil  per  month $2.13 

Cost  of  the  three  teachers  in  the  elementary  and  gram- 
mar-school   grades    of    the    consolidated    school    per 

month $150 

Entire  cost  of  the  one  transportation  wagon  per  month     .  $50 

Average  cost  per  pupil  per  month  in  same  grades  .     .     .  £2.22 
Cost  of  the  four  teachers  in  entire  school  and  of  the 

school  wagon  per  month $280 

Average   cost   per  pupil   for   the   elementary   and   high 

school $2.54 

The  Wool  Market  school,  with  its  four  teachers  and  adequate 
high-school  advantages,  costs  the  community  only  41  cents  per 
pupil,  or  a  total  of  $45  per  month  more  than  the  three  little  one- 
teacher  schools.  To  send  the  23  high-school  pupils  out  of  the 
community  for  their  high-school  education  would  cost  the  com- 
munity at  least  $1,000  more  than  this  entire  school  cost  the  com- 
munity and  county  for  eight  months.  Mr.  W.  A.  Cox,  referred  to 
above,  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  the  value  of  land  in  the 
community  had  increased  during  the  two  years  as  a  result  of  the 
good  school  from  $10  per  acre  to  $25  per  acre. 


THE  SCHOOL  BUILDING  95 

What  has  been  accomplished  in  the  Wool  Market  school  can  be 
done  in  almost  any  community  in  the  South.  This  and  similar 
instances  that  might  be  mentioned  lend  strength  to  the  contention 
that  adequate  school  advantages  can  be  provided  for  the  country 
children  in  the  community  near  the  farm  home.1 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

A  new  school  building  with  twelve  recitation  rooms  is  to  be 
built.  Shall  the  windows  of  the  classrooms  open  to  the  north  and 
south  or  to  the  east  and  west?  Shall  the  lockers  for  coats  and 
hats  be  in  the  general  corridors  or  shall  there  be  a  cloakroom  off 
each  room  ?  How  high  shall  the  blackboards  be  from  the  floor  ? 
How  many  sides  of  the  room  shall  be  supplied  with  blackboards  ? 
How  high  shall  each  step  be  in  the  stairways  ?  If  the  building  is 
designed  to  accommodate  six  hundred  pupils,  what  rooms  besides 
the  recitation  rooms  shall  be  provided  ?  How  big  should  the  audi- 
torium be  ?  Should  it  have  a  large  stage  ?  Shall  the  toilets  be  in 
the  basement  or  on  each  floor  ?  Is  it  legitimate  to  spend  money 
on  a  teachers'  rest  room  ?  Where  should  the  principal's  office  be  ? 

Is  there  any  difference  between  the  kind  of  school  building  to 
be  recommended  in  San  Antonio,  Texas,  and  Minneapolis,  Minne- 
sota ?  W hat  color  should  the  walls  of  a  classroom  be  ?  How  much 
playground  space  should  there  be  around  a  school  building  designed 
for  six  hundred  pupils  ? 

Should  school  buildings  be  frame  buildings  ?  Should  doors  open 
into  the  building  ?  What  is  a  fire  drill,  and  why  is  it  required  ? 

Report  of  a  Study  of  Certain  Phases  of  the  Public-School  System 
of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  made  under  the  auspices  of  the  Boston 
Finance  Commission,  Document  £7(1916),  pp.  185-213.  Reprinted 
by  Teachers  College. 

STRAYER,  G.  D.    Score  Card  for  School  Buildings.    Teachers  College. 

TERMAN,  L.  M.  The  Building  Situation  and  Medical  Inspection.  Denver 
School  Survey.  Published  by  the  Denver  School  Survey  Committee. 

1  Communication  by  \V.  H.  Smith,  State  Superintendent  of  Public  In- 
struction, Mississippi.  Published  as  part  of  the  monograph  entitled  "Con- 
solidation of  Rural  Schools  and  Transportation  of  Pupils  at  Public 
Expense,"  in  /?«//<•//«  .\'o.  jo.  United  States  Hurcau  of  Education,  1914 
(edited  by  A.  C.  Monahan),  pp.  82-84. 


CHAPTER  VII 

GROUPING  PUPILS  IN  CLASSES 

TRANSITION  TO  PROBLEMS  OF  INTERNAL  ORGANIZATION 

The  preceding  chapters  have  dealt,  for  the  most  part, 
with  aspects  of  school  organization  which  are  external  to 
the  classroom  and  to  the  operations  of  instruction.  The 
external  organization  is  set  up,  however,  for  the  sole  pur- 
pose of  making  class  work  possible.  We  shall  progress, 
therefore,  in  our  statement  of  educational  problems  and 
principles  by  turning  to  the  consideration  in  detail  of  the 
organization  of  the  groups  to  which  instruction  is  given. 

The  connection  of  this  problem  with  the  one  discussed 
in  the  last  chapter  is  not  difficult  to  trace.  Where  a  com- 
munity is  small  and  has  few  children,  a  one-room  building 
will  serve  to  house  the  school.  Economy  dictates  the  em- 
ployment of  a  single  teacher.  This  one  teacher  must  divide 
his  or  her  time  as  best  possible  in  giving  instruction  to 
pupils  some  of  whom  are  very  young  and  others  of  whom 
are  more  mature.  On  the  other  hand,  where  the  community  is 
large  or  where  the  school  is  consolidated,  a  many-room  build- 
ing is  required,  and  the  lines  of  division  between  groups  are 
drawn  in  a  fashion  quite  impossible  in  the  one-room  school. 

ECONOMY  A  FIRST  MOTIVE  FOR  GROUPING 

Some  of  the  simplest  motives  back  of  the  grouping  of 
pupils  into  classes  are  financial.  Instruction  can  be  adminis- 
tered economically  to  a  number  of  pupils  when  it  would  be 
prohibitively  expensive  to  provide  a  teacher  for  each  learner. 
Indeed,  the  demand  for  large  classes  in  city  schools  becomes 

96 


GROUPING  PUPILS  IN  CLASSES  97 

so  urgent  that  it  is  often  necessary  to  point  out  the  danger 
of  carrying  economy  so  far  that  it  will  defeat  the  purposes 
of  instruction. 

SOCIAL  INFLUENCE  AN  IMPORTANT  MOTIVE 

On  the  other  hand,  it  can  be  shown  that  even  where  the 
motive  of  economy  is  not  pressing,  there  are  valid  educa- 
tional grounds  for  grouping  pupils  into  classes.  Pupils  help 
each  other  through  their  natural  social  relations.  The  whole- 
some rivalry  and  mutual  suggestiveness  provided  by  the 
class  furnish  a  much  better  atmosphere  for  teaching  than 
does  the  isolation  of  individual  instruction. 

Somewhere  between  the  huge  class  dictated  by  economy 
and  the  small  class  diminishing  to  a  single  individual  is 
the  ideal  group  in  point  of  size  for  successful  teaching. 

GROUPING  IN  THE  ONE-ROOM  SCHOOL 

There  are  other  characteristics  than  size,  however,  to  be 
considered  in  making  up  proper  groups.  In  order  to  dis- 
cover some  of  these  characteristics,  it  will  be  well  to  consider 
certain  concrete  types  of  grouping  exhibited  in  schools. 

The  type  of  grouping  in  the  one-room,  one-teacher  school 
is  in  many  respects  the  freest  which  can  be  found.  The 
teacher  can  organize  the  school  with  no  conflicts  in  pro- 
gram, because  the  whole  program  consists  in  distributing 
his  own  time.  The  classes  can  be  of  any  size  that  the 
teacher's  judgment  determines.  The  reasons  for  the  group- 
ing are  purely  and  simply  those  which  appeal  to  the  teacher. 

Under  such  circumstances  what  happens?  The  teacher 
naturally  puts  in  one  group  the  pupils  who  are  for  the  first 
time  taking  up  school  work.  In  other  groups  he  puts  those 
pupils  who  have  approximately  the  same  attainments  in 
each  subject.  In  the  classes  beyond  the  first  many  compli- 
cations arise.  There  are  some  pupils  who  read  well  but 


98       THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

seem  to  be  deficient  in  knowledge  of  number.  Other  pupils 
with  a  taste  for  arithmetic  are  very  forward  in  that  branch 
and  do  only  indifferently  well  in  reading  and  spelling.  It 
is  not  uncommon  in  the  one-room  school  for  the  teacher 
to  regard  these  differences  in  ability  in  particular  subjects 
as  adequate  reasons  for  distributing  the  pupils  differently  in 
different  subjects.  It  comes  about  in  the  course  of  time 
that  one  and  the  same  pupil  will  be  in  the  third  reading 
class,  in  the  fourth  geography  class,  and  in  the  fifth  or  sixth 
class  in  arithmetic,  while  another  pupil  who  has  attained  to 
the  fifth  reader  will  be  lingering  behind  in  the  third  class 
in  arithmetic. 

COURSES  OF  INSTRUCTION  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  PROBLEM 
OF  GROUPING 

We  find  ourselves  led  by  the  discussion  of  groupings  to 
a  consideration  of  different  levels  of  difficulty  in  subjects 
of  instruction  and  to  the  rate  of  progress  of  each  individual 
in  each  subject.  The  teacher  in  the  one-room  school  has 
no  difficulty  in  seeing  the  wisdom  of  holding  together  those 
pupils  who  have  a  common  grade  of  knowledge  in 
geography.  In  like  fashion  the  class  in  arithmetic  must  be 
as  homogeneous  as  possible.  There  is,  however,  no  recog- 
nized demand  that  a  certain  section  of  geography  be  coupled 
in  the  education  of  any  child  with  any  particular  section 
of  arithmetic.  Pupils  are  grouped  in  the  one-room  school 
with  reference  to  each  subject  considered  by  itself. 

NEW  PROBLEMS  OF  GROUPING  IN  LARGE  SCHOOLS 

When  schools  grow  to  the  size  where  pupils  are  put  into 
different  rooms,  as  in  an  eight-room  building,  a  problem 
arises  which  was  never  faced  in  the  one-room  school.  It  is 
the  problem  of  carrying  a  group  of  pupils  through  all  the 
subjects  at  the  same  rate.  Thus,  when  the  pupils  in  an 


GROUPING  PUPILS  IN  CLASSES  99 

ordinary  city  school  have  been  grouped  together  in  arith- 
metic, there  are  obvious  advantages  from  an  administrative 
point  of  view  in  keeping  them  together  in  reading  and  in 
geography.  In  ordinary  practice  the  graded  school  assumes 
that  it  is  possible  to  find  means  of  keeping  the  group 
together  for  long  periods  in  all  subjects. 

This  assumption  leads  to  the  necessity  of  asking  a  kind 
of  question  which  did  not  confront  the  teacher  in  the  one- 
room  school.  The  kind  of  question  which  comes  up  in  the 
graded  school  can  be  illustrated  as  follows :  When  a  pupil 
is  old  enough  and  intellectually  mature  enough  to  study  the 
products  and  industries  of  North  America  in  his  geography, 
what  phase  of  arithmetic  will  be  appropriate  to  hold  his 
attention  and  stimulate  his  thinking  ?  When  a  pupil  is  old 
enough  to  read  the  history  of  his  own  city,  what  other  read- 
ing material  will  insure  real  effort  on  his  part  ? 

The  one-room  school  escapes  these  questions  for  the 
most  part  because  it  is  at  liberty  to  allow  the  pupil  to  take 
a  different  pace  in  each  subject.  The  one-room  school  is  a 
place  where  the  subjects  of  instruction  taken  in  their  totality, 
or  the  curriculum,  as  the  whole  series  of  subjects  may  be 
called,  is  usually  not  recognized  as  important.  Each  subject 
has  a  sequence  of  its  own,  but  the  curriculum  as  a  whole  is 
not  thought  out.  In  the  graded  school  the  curriculum  is  one 
of  the  matters  of  major  importance.  The  graded  school  not 
only  grades  pupils  ;  it  grades  subject-matter  of  instruction. 
The  importance  of  this  contrast  cannot  be  overemphasized. 
Many  of  the  problems  of  the  modern  school  arise  at  this  point. 

FUNDAMENTALLY  DIFFERENT  VIEWS  ox  THE  CURRICULUM 

Let  us  consider  certain  cases  which  will  make  clear  the 
importance  of  the  contrast.  The  following  extract  from 
the  report  of  the  state  superintendent  of  schools  in  Maine 
sets  forth  a  definite  view  on  the  matters  under  discussion  : 


loo     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

More  Careful  System.  The  number  of  pupils  in  ungraded 
schools  is  shown  to  be  29,089,  a  decrease  of  1986  from  the  figures 
shown  for  the  previous  year.  It  is  clear  that  the  work  of  the 
schools  is  becoming  more  carefully  systematized.  This  fact  is  fur- 
ther attested  by  the  reduction  in  the  number  of  schools  not  using 
a  course  of  study.  In  1904  there  were  2323  schools  that  were 
reported  as  following  no  definite  outline  of  studies.  In  1913  this 
number  had  dropped  to  827  and,  as  indicated  by  this  report,  has 
now  been  further  reduced  to  670.  This  change,  already  increasing 
to  no  small  extent  the  efficiency  of  the  schools,  suggests  a  promise 
of  the  greater  advantages  that  would  follow  the  adoption  of  a 
course  that  would  in  essentials  be  uniform  for  the  state.  While 
an  absolute  uniformity  that  would  prevent  individual  initiative  and 
wise  experimentation  would  retard  progress  and  is  not  to  be  desired, 
there  is  much  to  be  said  in  favor  of  an  agreement  on  established 
and  essential  points  for  all  parts  of  the  state  school  system.1 

On  the  other  hand,  practical  efforts  are  being  made 
in  many  quarters  to  overcome  the  rigidity  of  the  graded 
system  by  devising  methods  of  taking  the  individual  out 
of  the  group  whenever  the  course  of  study  proves  to  be 
inapplicable  to  his  particular  needs.  In  Fond  du  Lac,  Wis- 
consin, the  elementary  schools  have  their  programs  for  the 
various  grades  so  arranged  that  language  comes  for  every 
grade  at  exactly  the  same  hour  in  the  day ;  in  like  fashion, 
all  arithmetic  classes  are  held  at  the  same  time,  and  so  with 
geography  and  the  other  subjects.  Through  this  arrange- 
ment it  is  possible  for  a  child  who  is  backward  in  a  single 
subject  to  withdraw  from  the  group  with  which  he  spends 
most  of  the  day  and  to  go  for  the  period  to  another  class 
where  he  receives  a  different  type  of  instruction  in  the 
subject  in  which  he  is  behind. 

At  Gary  the  schools  are  so  organized  that  certain  teachers 
in  certain  rooms  teach  a  particular  subject ;  the  general 

1  Report  of  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools  of  the  State 
of  Maine,  for  the  School  Year  Ending  June  30,  1914,  p.  21. 


GROUPING  PUPILS  IN  CLASSES  101 

freedom  of  organization  secured  in  this  way  is  utilized  to 
shift  pupils  from  room  to  room,  thus  breaking  up  the  grading 
system.  The  possibilities  of  this  arrangement  are  described 
in  the  following  quotation  : 

If  a  boy  is  weak  in  some  particular  subject,  it  is  possible  to 
give  him  double  work  in  that  subject.  Let  us  say  a  4A  boy  is 
weak  in  arithmetic.  It  is  possible  for  a  time  for  him  to  omit  some 
of  his  special  activities  and  take  arithmetic  with  the  4  B  class  also, 
thus  permitting  double  time  in  arithmetic.  If  he  is  weak  in  all  of 
his  regular  studies  it  is  easy  to  drop  him  out  of  his  special  activities 
for  a  time  and  permit  him  to  do  double  work  in  the  regular  studies. 
The  special  activities  are  of  such  a  sort  that  he  can  return  to  his 
classes  there  without  difficulty.1 

THE  UNGRADED  CLASS  IN  GRADED  SCHOOLS 

Another  type  of  experiment  is  seen  in  the  so-called  un- 
graded class.  In  many  large  schools  a  room  is  set  apart 
under  an  especially  skillful  teacher  where  pupils  who  are 
for  any  reason  out  of  joint  with  the  curriculum  may  receive 
personal  attention.  Many  of  these  ungraded  rooms  are  so 
conducted  that  bright  pupils,  through  a  little  personal  help, 
are  prepared  to  skip  a  grade  and  thus  advance  more  rapidly 
than  the  ordinary  pupil.  Backward  children,  especially  those 
who  are  backward  in  only  a  single  subject,  are  helped  enough 
to  restore  them  to  their  classes.  Where  it  is  found  that 
pupils  are  subnormal  and  permanently  unable  to  keep  in  line 
with  others  of  like  age,  the  ungraded  class  may  become  a 
special  class.  The  teacher  is  then  given  authority  to  take 
all  liberty  with  the  subject-matter  of  instruction  and  fit  it  to 
the  needs  of  the  pupils.  Sometimes  in  such  special  classes 
reading  is  practically  abandoned  and  time  is  devoted  to 
various  forms  of  handwork. 

1  John  Franklin  Hobbitt,  "The  Elimination  of  Waste  in  Education," 
in  Elementary  Sihool  Teacher^  Vol.  XII  (1912),  pp.  266-267. 


102     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

CASES  WHERE  FAILURES  SHOW  THE  URGENCY  OF  THE 
GRADING  PROBLEM 

The  foregoing  paragraphs  have,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  made 
clear  the  fact  that  the  grouping  of  pupils  and  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  curriculum  are  closely  interrelated  problems.  The 
same  lesson  can  be  taught  by  a  study  of  the  actual  opera- 
tions of  certain  school  systems  which  are  organized  under 
the  graded  system. 

Fig.  1 1  shows  certain  records  of  failures  in  the  elemen- 
tary schools  of  Cleveland  for  one  half  of  the  year  1914. 
A  failure  on  the  part  of  a  child  in  any  school  can  have  no 
other  meaning  than  this :  the  child  was,  at  the  time  of  his 
failure,  in  the  wrong  group  for  his  intellectual  advantage. 
There  is  no  effort  in  such  a  remark  to  place  the  blame  for 
the  child's  failure.  Perhaps  the  child  who  fails  is  indolent. 
Perhaps  the  work  is  too  difficult  for  him.  Whatever  the  rea- 
son, failure  means  that  the  pupil  and  the  system  of  grading 
are  out  of  joint  with  each  other.  Hence,  when  we  find  pupils 
failing,  we  know  that  the  grading  system  is  not  working 
perfectly. 

In  the  figure  the  diagram  at  the  left  shows  the  percent- 
age of  nonpromotions  in  each  grade.  About  17  per  cent 
failed  in  the  first  grade,  about  12  per  cent  in  the  second, 
and  so  on.  It  may  be  well  to  comment  briefly  on  the  high 
percentage  in  the  first  grade.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
some  pupils  enter  school  when  they  are  immature.  Many 
pupils  lose  a  great  many  days  of  schooling  in  the  first  years 
through  contagious  diseases,  which,  as  shown  by  school  statis- 
tics, are  contracted  more  commonly  during  the  first  years 
than  later.  The  family  does  not  take  care  of  attendance  as 
carefully  in  the  first  year  as  later.  The  first  year  supplies 
the  test  which  in  many  cases  brings  evidence  of  mental  defi- 
ciency. These  and  other  reasons  explain  the  high  percentage 
of  nonpromotions  in  the  first  year.  The  reduced  percentage 


GROUPING  PUPILS  IN  CLASSES 


103 


in  the  second  year  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  a  part  of 
the  task  of  adjusting  pupils  to  the  graded  system  and  to  the 
curriculum  has  been  accomplished  in  the  first  grade. 

The  record  given  in  the  diagram  for  the  third,  fourth, 
and  fifth  grades  is  an  impressive  exhibition  of  increasing 
incoordination  between  the  pupils  and  the  work  of  the 
school.  So  striking  is  the  difficulty  in  these  later  grades 
that  we  are  led  to  ask  for  an  explanation.  This  is  supplied 


\ 


\ 


12340678 

Grade 
Nonpromotions 


12345678       12315678 

Grade  Grade 

Failures  in  reading         Failures  in  arithmetic 


FIG.  ii.    Record  of  nonpromotions  and  failures  in  Cleveland,  1914 

in  part  by  the  diagram  in  the  middle  of  the  figure  and  by 
the  one  at  the  right.  These  present  the  records  of  failures 
in  two  of  the  most  important  school  subjects. 

A  record  of  constantly  diminishing  failures  in  reading 
is  exhibited  in  the  middle  diagram.  This  shows  that  the 
teachers  judge  that  the  pupils  improve  steadily  in  reading. 
There  is  a  satisfactory  response  to  the  methods  of  teaching 
reading  and  to  the  demands  of  the  upper  grades.  Those 
pupils  who  have  difficulty  in  reading  in  the  lower  grades  are 
held  back  or  are  helped  to  master  the  art.  The  evident  fact 
is  that  improvement  in  reading  is,  according  to  the  record, 
continuous  and  satisfactory. 


104     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

The  diagram  at  the  right  shows  the  record  in  arithmetic. 
Here  is  the  cause  of  many  of  the  nonpromotions  shown  in 
the  diagram  at  the  left.  Failures  mount  up  in  the  middle 
grades  at  a  rate  which  shows  with  manifest  clearness  that 
something  is  radically  wrong. 

One  may  venture  several  remarks  in  the  presence  of  such 
records.  It  does  not  seem  likely  that  the  pupils  are  stupid, 
since  it  is  shown  that  they  can  read.  It  is  to  be  noted  that 
they  do  not  have  any  option  about  taking  arithmetic,  nor 
do  they  determine  what  arithmetic  they  shall  study.  They 
are  evidently  not  getting  a  section  of  arithmetic  in  each 
of  the  grades  which  suitably  parallels  the  reading  which  is 
administered  to  them. 

EFFORTS  TO  ADJUST  INSTRUCTION  TO  PUPILS 

The  conditions  shown  in  the  figure  are  paralleled  in  many 
school  systems.  The  result  is  that  school  officers,  seeing  the 
difficulty  of  doing  justice  to  the  pupils,  have  made  radical 
changes  in  the  grading  system  in  order  to  meet  individual 
needs.  Two  extracts  from  reports  by  superintendents  will 
show  the  extent  to  which  school  systems  will  go. 

A  study  of  the  performances  of  the  failures  in  Boise  has  con- 
vinced the  entire  force  that  the  repeater  is  generally  a  quitter,  and 
does  about  as  poor  work  in  his  second  attempt  as  in  his  first  trial 
at  the  work  of  a  given  grade.  The  stamp  of  disapproval  has  been 
placed  upon  him.  He  starts  on  his  second  attempt  with  a  griev- 
ance against  the  teacher  and  the  entire  institution.  The  parents  as 
well  as  the  child  feel  injured,  so  that  the  teacher  must  combat  both 
the  antagonism  of  the  home  and  the  hostility  of  the  pupil,  who  has 
been  trained  for  failure  and  not  for  success,  and  who  becomes 
either  morbidly  sensitive  or  brazenly  indifferent.  What  the  laggard 
would  probably  do  as  a  repeater  is  therefore  quite  definitely  known. 
If  he  were  permitted  to  advance,  he  could  hardly  do  worse  and  he 
might  do  better.  It  is  less  expensive  and  more  human  to  pro- 
mote him  than  it  is  to  degrade  him.  This  view  of  the  situation  is 


GROUPING  PUPILS  IN  CLASSES  105 

generally  accepted  in  Boise.  The  standard  for  promoting  the  dull 
pupil  is  entirely  individual.  He  is  not  compelled  to  do  all  the  work 
of  his  present  grade  before  he  is  permitted  to  pass  to  the  next.  He 
is  even  allowed  to  pass  on  without  manifesting  enough  ability  to 
justify  the  hope  that  he  may  be  able  to  do  the  work  of  the  ad- 
vanced grade.  The  question  is  reduced  to  the  one  consideration : 
Would  he  do  better  if  advanced  than  he  would  as  a  repeater  ?  * 

Ten  years  ago  no  pupil  could  enter  the  Newton  High  School, 
no  matter  what  his  age  or  educational  need,  who  had  not  com- 
pleted satisfactorily  all  the  work  of  the  grammar  schools ;  and 
a  considerable  portion  —  probably  one-third  to  one-half  —  of  all 
Newton  children  were  then  leaving  school  at  fourteen  to  sixteen 
years  of  age  with  only  part  of  an  elementary  school  education. 
To-day  any  boy  or  girl  who  needs  secondary  school  instruction  — 
and  most  boys  and  girls  of  high  school  age,  fourteen  or  fifteen,  do 
need  such  instruction  —  may  enter  some  department  of  the  New- 
ton high  schools,  whether  grammar  school  work  has  been  com- 
pleted or  not ;  and  nearly  all  —  probably  from  eighty  to  ninety  per 
cent  —  of  our  children  are  now  getting  secondary  training  before 
leaving  school.3 

READJUSTMENTS  OF  THE  CURRICULUM 

There  are  other  and  more  fundamental  remedies  for  some 
of  the  evils  of  the  graded  system.  The  curriculum  can  be 
readjusted.  Where  any  considerable  number  of  pupils  fail 
in  a  particular  subject,  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  material 
of  instruction  or  the  method  of  presentation  or  both  ought 
to  be  modified.  In  some  cases  pupils  ought  to  be  taken 
out  of  the  regular  grades  and  treated  as  special  cases.  The 
city  of  Cincinnati  was  a  pioneer  in  recognizing  the  need  of 
special  curricula  for  special  types  of  pupils.  The  whole  coun- 
try has  in  recent  years  come  to  recognize  the  importance  of 
taking  children  who  are  mentally  backward  or  slow  out  of 

1  Special  report  of  the  Hoise  Public  Schools  (June.  1015),  pp.  17-18. 
1  F.  E.  Spaulding,  The  Newton  Public  Schools,  Annual  Report  of  the 
School  Committee,  Newton,  Massachusetts,  Vol.  LXXIV  (1913),  pp.  18-19. 


io6     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

the  grades.  Less  commonly  there  is  a  recognition  of  the 
importance  of  specially  arranged  courses  for  the  bright 
pupils. 

In  the  city  of  St.  Louis  the  curriculum  of  each  grade  is 
administered  in  units  of  ten  weeks  for  each  section.  At  the 
end  of  each  ten  weeks  a  readjustment  is  possible  so  that 
the  bright  pupils  may  go  forward  and  the  slow  pupils  may 
proceed  more  deliberately.  There  are  at  the  end  of  each 
period  of  ten  weeks  a  number  of  promotions  which  carry 
individual  pupils  forward  two  quarters.  The  curriculum  is 
so  arranged  that  a  rapidly  promoted  pupil  does  not  omit 
any  essential  part  of  the  subjects,  while  the  slow  pupil  has 
ample  opportunity  for  drill  and  review. 

The  grading  of  the  material  used  in  instruction  in  par- 
ticular subjects  has  also  been  recognized  as  a  problem  of 
the  first  importance.  One  of  the  most  thoroughly  studied 
subjects  is  spelling.  Ayres1  took  the  thousand  words  which 
several  investigations  had  shown  to  be  the  most  commonly 
used  in  ordinary  life  and  tried  them  out  on  the  pupils  of 
eighty-four  cities.  As  a  result  of  those  trials  he  is  able  to 
state  that  a  certain  list  of  words  will  be  spelled  with  a  given 
percentage  of  error  by  pupils  of  the  third  grade  and  with  a 
less  percentage  of  error  by  pupils  of  the  fourth,  fifth,  and 
higher  grades.  Thus  the  material  of  instruction  in  spelling 
is  graded,  not  by  arbitrarily  selecting  what  the  teacher  thinks 
will  be  appropriate,  but  by  trying  out  the  actual  ability  of 
pupils  in  eighty-four  cities. 

PROBLEMS  OF  GROUPING  IN  HIGH  SCHOOL 

Thus  far  the  problem  of  grouping  has  been  discussed 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  elementary  school.  The  prob- 
lems of  the  high  school  are  different  in  detail,  but  no  less 

1  Leonard  P.  Ayres,  A  Measuring  Scale  for  Ability  in  Spelling.  The 
Russell  Sage  Foundation,  1915. 


GROUPING  PUPILS  IN  CLASSES 


107 


impressive.  In  the  first  place,  the  failures  in  high-school 
subjects  show  the  same  lack  of  systematic  ordering  of  the 
curriculum  that  was  observed  in  the  elementary  records  cited 
above.  For  example,  from  the  survey  of  the  Denver  high 
schools  we  may  bowow  a  series  of  percentages  showing  the 
failures  in  various  subjects  in  the  five  high  schools. 

TABLE  VI.     PERCENTAGES    OF    FAILURES    IN    THE    CHIEF 

SUBJECTS  OF  INSTRUCTION  IN  THE  FIVE  HIGH  SCHOOLS 

OF  DENVER  IN  JUNE,  1915 J 


EAST 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 

NORTH 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 

SOUTH 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 

WEST 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 

MA.STAL 
HIGH 
SCHOOL 

English  I    

21 

I  c 

I  i 

q 

-?! 

English  II  

16 

IO 

1  1 

English  III     

16 

-! 

2 

I  c 

">O 

English  IV      

-3 

2 

8 

I  -i 

Mathematics  I                    .     . 

"•*  -1 

"".I 

->6 

"8 

CO 

Mathematics  II   

17 

2  I 

28 

20 

IQ 

Commercial  arithmetic   . 

Elementary  science     .    .     . 
Botany     

46 

'3 

16- 
9 

33 

'4 
ii 

21 

7 

2.1 

Physics    

10 

I  : 

18 

17 

"5.1 

Chemistry  

o 

4 

6 

2O 

Physiography  

1  1 

I  r 

i  "• 

History 
Ancient    

i  •> 

17 

1  1 

IO 

I  c 

English    

1  7 

7 

Medieval  and  modern 
American     

1  2 

9 

s 

'3 

Ijtin  I     

t  1 

r6 

10 

2<) 

4Q 

I^tin  II  

,, 

20 

M 

I  1 

iS 

German  I    

"*O 

'4 

c 

IO 

(icrman  II  

If) 

•> 

7 

o 

1  The  Work  of  the  Schools.  Part  1 1  of  the  Report  of  the  School  Survey 
of  Denver,  p.  158.  Published  by  the  School  Survey  Committee,  Denver, 
Colorado,  1916. 


108     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

Table  VI  is  worthy  of  careful  study.  Let  us  compare 
English  I  and  II,  which  are  required  of  all  students,  with 
Mathematics  I  and  II,  which  are  also  required.  In  almost 
every  case  the  percentage  of  failures  in  mathematics  is 
greater.  This  goes  to  show  either  that  the  grading  in  math- 
ematics is  more  exacting  or  that  the  students  are  less  well 
qualified  to  carry  the  courses.  The  exception  to  the  rule 
that  mathematics  shows  more  failures  than  English,  which 
appears  in  the  second  year  of  the  Manual  High  School, 
suggests  that  possibly  the  students  in  that  school  see  the 
importance  of  mathematics  as  a  professional  course.  The 
difficulty  with  this  explanation  is  the  enormous  mortality  in 
that  school  in  the  first-year  course  in  mathematics.  Per- 
haps the  pupils  who  are  likely  to  fail  are  dropped  during 
the  first  year. 

While  the  failures  in  mathematics  are  uniformly  higher 
than  in  English,  the  policy  of  the  different  schools  is  strik- 
ingly different.  In  the  East  High  School  the  two  subjects 
are  about  alike,  while  in  the  West  High  School  the  failures 
in  mathematics  are  relatively  very  high. 

Such  contrasts  become  more  impressive  if  we  draw  the 
records  in  Latin  into  consideration.  In  the  West  High 
School,  Latin  in  the  first  year  is  like  mathematics,  while 
in  the  South  High  School  it  is  like  English.  Elementary 
science  also  shows  wide  divergences  in  practice. 

A  number  of  startling  facts  appear  if  the  table  is  made  a 
subject  of  careful  study.  What  these  facts  mean  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  set  forth.  The  subjects  now  included  in  the  curricu- 
lum of  the  high  school  are  only  imperfectly  adjusted  to  the 
abilities  of  the  students.  The  community  has  a  right  to 
question  instruction  which  results  in  failure  on  the  part  of 
one  student  out  of  four.  It  certainly  must  be  aroused  at  the 
lack  of  coordination  between  schools  within  a  single  system 
which  show  differences  as  marked  as  those  exhibited  in 
Table  VI. 


GROUPING  PUPILS  IN  CLASSES  109 

Other  problems  in  the  grading  of  high-school  students 
and  the  subject-matter  in  which  they  are  given  instruction 
grow  out  of  the  laxity  which  has  crept  into  the  administra- 
tion of  the  elective  system.  Thus,  if  we  consider  certain 
subjects  which  are  open  to  students  of  different  classes, 
such  as  the  first  course  in  Spanish  or  French  or  the  course 
in  ancient  history,  we  find  that  senior  students  are  allowed 
to  enter  the  same  class  as  freshmen  because  the  organiza- 
tion of  separate  divisions  would  be  too  expensive.  The 
result  is  either  a  reduction  of  the  requirement  in  class  work 
to  the  level  of  the  more  immature  student  or  undue  effort 
to  bring  the  lower  student  to  a  reasonable  understanding  of 
the  subject. 

ILLEGITIMATE  REASONS  FOR  PROMOTING  PUPILS 

The  problems  which  have  been  pointed  out  will  perhaps 
be  seen  most  vividly  if  some  types  of  promotion  are  cited 
which  are  likely  to  interfere  with  instruction. 

Sometimes  the  school  allows  a  pupil  to  move  up  a  grade 
or  class,  although  it  is  known  that  he  has  not  done  the 
work  below,  because  the  parents  of  the  child  have  influence 
and  it  does  not  seem  safe  to  antagonize  them. 

Sometimes  the  pressure  of  numbers  in  the  lower  grades  or 
classes  is  so  great  that  the  teacher  sends  a  pupil  on  in  order 
to  make  room  for  the  younger  pupils,  even  when  it  is  evident 
that  the  pupil  will  not  be  able  to  carry  the  higher  work. 

Sometimes  the  teacher  in  a  given  grade  is  anxious  to 
unload  the  backward  or  disorderly  and  therefore  incompetent 
pupil  on  someone  else,  and  since  the  open  road  is  into  the 
next  higher  grade,  the  child  is  sent  on. 

Promotion  is  sometimes  controlled  by  the  calendar.  He- 
cause  the  date  for  closing  the  schools  has  arrived,  and 
the  long  vacation  is  at  hand,  pupils  arc  declared  to  have 
completed  the  work  whether  they  have  or  not. 


HO     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

Sometimes  it  is  more  or  less  explicitly  argued  that  the 
backward  pupil  is  larger  than  the  other  children  of  like 
intellectual  attainments  and  he  should  therefore  be  sent  to 
the  upper-grade  room  where  the  seats  are  larger. 

When  such  reasons  for  promotion  are  deliberately  set 
down  in  black  and  white,  they  are  evidently  not  legitimate 
reasons.  Many  a  pupil  has,  however,  been  dealt  with  on 
exactly  such  grounds. 

EXPERIMENTS  AND   STUDIES  WHICH  AIM  TO  SUPPLY  BOTH 
INDIVIDUAL  INSTRUCTION  AND  CLASS  INSTRUCTION 

The  indefensible  reasons  given  above  for  advancing  pupils 
ought  to  make  anyone  who  expects  to  become  a  teacher  the 
more  ready  to  turn  to  the  careful  study  of  the  problem.  It  is 
undoubtedly  a  social  and  financial  necessity  that  pupils  be 
grouped  in  classes.  It  is  equally  necessary  for  purposes  of 
administration  that  the  groups  have  some  kind  of  perma- 
nency and  some  degree  of  internal  uniformity.  It  is  cer- 
tainly legitimate  that  the  individual's  needs  be  asserted  to 
the  extent  of  freeing  him  from  absolute  subordination  to 
the  interests  of  the  group. 

Such  a  statement  of  the  case  would  seem  to  dictate  a 
double  type  of  instruction  which  will  recognize  more  than 
does  the  present  rigid  class  system  the  need  of  individual 
freedom  and  the  value  of  class  solidarity. 

Many  experiments  have  been  tried  in  the  effort  to  solve 
this  problem.  The  Batavia  system,  so  called,  puts  two 
teachers  into  a  room,  one  to  supervise  individual  work  and 
one  to  teach  groups.  There  are  various  systems  of  individual 
promotion  which  advance  a  pupil  whenever  he  is  ready. 

Recently  Principal  Allen1  of  the  high  school  of  Spring- 
field, Illinois,  has  developed  a  system  of  supervised  study 
in  which  the  students  put  themselves  through  certain 

1  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  this  experiment,  see  pp.  237-238. 


GROUPING  PUPILS  IN  CLASSES  III 

prepared  exercises  and  in  this  part  of  their  work  receive 
individual  help  and  are  allowed  to  progress  at  their  own 
individual  rate.  Later  the  class  meets  for  recitation  as  a 
group.  The  recitation  group  is  made  to  depend  for  its 
composition  on  the  rate  at  which  students  complete  the 
individual  exercises.  The  class  is  accordingly  readjusted 
frequently,  and  in  order  to  provide  time  for  individual 
work  the  length  of  its  meetings  is  somewhat  less  than 
the  conventional  high-school  period. 

The  instructional  plan  thus  arranged  requires  certain 
readjustments  of  the  program  and  certain  divisions  of  labor 
among  the  teachers  which  differ  from  the  ordinary.  But, 
above  all,  it  calls  for  the  separation  of  those  aspects  of 
the  subjects  of  instruction  which  are  suitable  for  individual 
work  from  those  aspects  which  are  suited  to  class  exercises. 

ARRANGEMENT  OF  THE  MATERIALS  OF  INSTRUCTION 

We  are  constantly  brought  back  by  our  discussions  of 
the  organization  of  classes  to  a  consideration  of  the  cur- 
riculum. The  materials  of  instruction  are  capable  of  advan- 
tageous and  economical  use  only  when  they  are  adapted  to 
pupils.  Our  next  problem,  therefore,  is  to  consider  some 
of  the  general  principles  which  underlie  the  organization  of 
the  general  curriculum  and  of  particular  subjects. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

What  are  some  of  the  limitations  in  the  training  of  a  child  who 
gets  his  education  from  a  private  tutor  rather  than  as  a  member  of 
a  class  ?  Show  that  the  most  satisfactory  size  for  a  class  depends 
in  large  measure  on  the  subject  of  instruction.  In  certain  subjects, 
such  as  typewriting  and  bookkeeping,  instruction  often  becomes 
almost  purely  individual  instruction.  Observe  such  a  class  and 
describe  the  method  of  instruction. 

If  terminology  is  employed  in  a  strict  way,  a  "  course  "  refers 
to  a  series  of  lessons  in  a  single  subject,  a  "  curriculum  "  to  a 


112     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

coherent  group  of  courses.  What  devices  are  adopted  in  high 
schools  to  compel  students  to  think  of  curricula  rather  than  courses  ? 
What  are  the  advantages  and  what  are  the  evils  of  the  elective 
system  ? 

What  is  the  highest  percentage  of  failures  which  ought  to  be 
tolerated  in  a  class  ?  What  conditions  affect  your  answer  to  the 
foregoing  question  ?  Is  a  "  stiff  "  course  the  best  course  ?  What 
class  in  high  school  has  the  u  stiff  est  "  requirements  ? 

Dealing  with  the  illegitimate  methods  of  promotion  enumerated 
in  the  closing  paragraphs  of  the  chapter,  describe  some  thoroughly 
practical  method  of  handling  each  situation  without  making  the 
mistake  indicated. 

HOLMES,  W.  H.  School  Organization  and  the  Individual  Child.  The 
Davis  Press,  Worcester,  Massachusetts.  Contains  a  list  of  references 
on  the  subject. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


IMPORTANCE  OF  A  STUDY  OF  THE  CURRICULUM 

The  last  chapter  failed  of  its  purpose  if  it  did  not  con- 
centrate the  attention  of  the  reader  on  the  school  curriculum. 
The  organized  body  of  materials  of  instruction  constitutes 
one  of  the  most  important  factors  which  enter  into  the  life 
of  the  school  system.  Along  with  the  board  of  education, 
with  the  grading  system,  and  with  the  staff  of  teachers 
and  supervisory  officers  stands  the  curriculum  as  a  kind  of 
dominating  personality  always  exercising  a  leading  influence 
in  the  determination  of  every  educational  policy.  It  will  be 
the  business  of  this  chapter  to  open  the  discussion  of  the 
curriculum  by  commenting  on  the  history  of  courses  of 
study  and  by  pointing  out  some  of  the  changes  which  recent 
years  have  wrought. 

THE  SPECIALIZED  CURRICULUM  OF  HIGHER  SCHOOLS 

If  one  goes  back  to  the  beginnings  of  any  school  system, 
it  will  always  be  found  that  the  original  courses  of  study 
grow  directly  out  of  the  intellectual  ideals  of  the  times. 
For  example,  if  one  goes  back  to  the  beginnings  of  medieval 
universities,  he  finds  that  these  institutions  grew  up  because 
there  was  an  interest  in  certain  well-defined  bodies  of  ideas. 
At  Bologna  one  Irnerius  had  made  himself  acquainted  with 
the  laws  of  the  northern  Italian  cities,  and  students  came 
from  all  Europe  to  hear  him  expound  these  laws.  The 
course  of  study  was  directly  related  to  a  specific  demand. 

"3 


114     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

A  professional  theological  curriculum  was  organized  at 
the  time  of  the  founding  of  the  early  American  universities. 
Harvard  was  at  first  a  school  for  the  training  of  clergymen. 
At  that  time  there  was  no  demand  for  lawyers  trained  in 
the  New  World.  The  law  came  from  England,  and  from  the 
same  source  came  the  lawyers.  Medicine  had  hardly  de- 
veloped into  a  profession.  Preaching  and  listening  to  ser- 
mons were,  on  the  other  hand,  among  the  most  absorbing 
occupations  of  the  colonists,  and  Harvard  was  established  to 
provide  those  who  could  preach.  The  courses  of  study  were 
arranged  according  to  the  traditions  of  the  single  profession 
towards  which  the  graduates  were  aiming. 

PROBLEMS  OF  GENERALIZING  A  SPECIALIZED  CURRICULUM 

We  may  pursue  this  example  further  as  typical  of  the 
complications  which  ultimately  grow  up  around  any  course 
of  study.  The  original  purpose  of  Harvard  was  expanded 
with'  the  passing  years.  A  demand  arose  for  lawyers  and 
doctors ;  in  the  effort  to  meet  this  demand  the  institution 
was  divided  into  separate  schools.  Still  later  students  came 
to  college  seeking  a  general  training  not  leading  to  any 
profession.  Through  all  these  changes  in  the  demands  of 
the  student  body  the  original  courses  of  study  have  persist- 
ently battled  their  way  down  to  the  present.  No  clearer 
evidence  can  be  found  than  this,  that  courses  of  study  once 
created  become  vital  factors  in  all  the  later  life  of  the 
school.  The  college  courses  of  study  were  in  the  first  place 
the  product  of  a  particular  professional  demand.  While  sat- 
isfying this  particular  demand  they  became  strong  enough 
so  that  at  a  later  period  they  have  often  dominated  educa- 
tional policies. 

It  is  too  flippant  a  remark  to  say  that  the  classical  educa- 
tion of  the  clerical  period  became  the  fashion  and  that  later 
generations  were  afraid  to  be  out  of  fashion,  but  something 


CURRICULUM  AND  ITS  REORGANIZATION     115 

of  this  sort  is  what  really  happened.  The  traditions  of  a 
generation  are  hard  to  break.  The  father  who  took  Greek 
as  a  part  of  his  education  hesitates  to  see  his  son  enter  upon 
life  without  the  same  equipment.  Courses  of  study  thus  come 
to  have  an  intellectual  sanction  which  it  is  extraordinarily 
difficult  to  break  down. 


TRADITIONAL  CHARACTER  OF  MATHEMATICS  COURSES  IN 
HIGH  SCHOOLS 

Another  example  of  no  less  impressive  a  type  can  be 
drawn  from  the  high-school  curriculum  of  the  present  time. 
There  is  hardly  a  tradition  of  high  schools  which  is  more 
fixed  than  that  of  requiring  algebra  in  the  first  year  and 
geometry  later.  This  practice  persists  even  though  it  is  a 
well-known  fact  that  in  many  schools  failures  in  high-school 
algebra  are  more  numerous  than  in  any  other  high-school 
course.  Also,  there  is  a  clear  recognition  of  the  fact  that  by 
being  required  of  all  students  in  the  first  year  algebra  is  in 
effect  made  the  prerequisite  of  admission  to  the  courses  in 
science  and  literature  which  are  open  only  to  students  who 
have  reached  the  later  years  of  the  high  school.  The  ques- 
tion which  the  student  of  education  must  raise  is  this  :  How 
did  algebra  secure  this  position  of  commanding  importance, 
and  how  does  it  hold  this  position  when  experience  shows 
that  so  many  students  cannot  take  it  with  success  ?  The 
answer  to  these  questions  throws  a  strong  light  on  the 
nature  of  the  curriculum. 

Mathematics  in  general  gained  a  preeminent  position  in 
the  educational  scheme  of  the  Western  World  as  far  back  as 
the  fifth  century  before  Christ,  in  the  days  of  Pythagoras. 
The  branches  of  mathematics  which  were  chiefly  cultivated 
in  those  days  were  geometry  and  arithmetic.  Geometry 
flourished  as  an  experimental  science,  and  arithmetic  con- 
sisted in  the  most  elaborate  speculations  about  prime  numbers 


Ii6     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

and  the  properties  of  odd  and  even  numbers.  After  these 
sciences  had  reached  a  certain  maturity  they  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  University  of  Alexandria,  where,  in  the  third 
century  before  Christ,  Euclid  formulated  the  principles  of 
geometry  into  the  logical  form  which  has  persisted  to  our 
own  time.  If  one  asks  why  the  same  service  was  not 
rendered  for  arithmetic  at  the  University  of  Alexandria,  the 
answer  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  Greeks  had  no 
adequate  method  of  expressing  number.  They  used  a  system 
of  letters  even  more  clumsy  than  the  system  employed  by 
the  Romans  after  them.  If  one  needs  further  demonstration 
of  the  reason  why  arithmetic  did  not  develop  in  the  classical 
world,  let  him  try  to  multiply  DCCLXXVII  by  XCIX. 
Arithmetic  was  very  little  cultivated,  therefore,  while  geome- 
try was  put  into  perfect  logical  form.  Since  arithmetic  was 
so  little  developed  in  the  ancient  world,  algebra  never  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  a  real  start. 

Geometry,  thus  launched  as  a  systematized  branch  of 
learning  superior  to  arithmetic,  has  held  its  place  through  all 
generations.  In  the  medieval  institutions  the  perfect  logical 
form  of  geometry  was  fully  recognized.  Geometry  was  used 
to  sharpen  the  logic  of  many  a  mind.  Arithmetic  devel- 
oped only  so  far  as  it  was  needed  for  the  practical  purposes 
of  daily  life. 

In  due  time  there  came  into  Europe  oriental  scholars  who 
brought  with  them  that  marvelous  invention  —  the  Arabic 
numerals.  They  brought  also  the  science  of  algebra  with 
its  profound  abstractions.  The  Arabic  numerals  soon  super- 
seded the  clumsy  Roman  numerals,  and  the  common  man 
found  that  he  could  easily  deal  with  the  practical  matters  of 
life  by  means  of  this  number  system  which  rendered  all 
calculations  simple.  With  arithmetic  of  the  new  type  came 
algebra.  The  scientists  of  Europe  found  that  the  algebraic 
methods  opened  up  possibilities  of  mathematical  reasoning 
which  were  of  the  first  importance  to  science.  Algebra  and 


CURRICULUM  AND  ITS  REORGANIZATION      117 

arithmetic  flourished.  But  did  these  two  newcomers  in  any 
degree  disturb  the  position  of  geometry  ?  Not  at  all.  Algebra 
may  be  as  abstract  as  any  subject  in  the  curriculum,  but 
its  historical  relations  were  from  the  first  with  arithmetic, 
while  geometry  was  related  to  logic  and  the  higher  sub- 
jects. Geometry  has  continued  since  300  B.C.  to  be  a  higher 
course.  The  situation  in  the  high  schools  of  to-day  is  in 
no  sense  due  to  a  careful  study  of  the  degree  of  abstraction 
involved  in  geometry  and  algebra.  It  is  in  no  sense  a 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  geometry  was  the  first  of  the 
two  subjects  to  develop.  '  The  present  situation  can  be 
understood  only  by  recognizing  the  strength  of  tradition 
and  the  persistence  of  a  practice  when  once  it  gets  itself 
established. 

The  situation  is  the  more  impressive  because  even  a 
superficial  study  of  the  intellectual  needs  of  pupils  shows 
that  there  ought  to  be  instruction  in  the  lower  grades  in 
the  discrimination  of  forms  and  designs.  One  does  not 
master  the  forms  even  of  common  things  until  his  attention 
has  been  turned  to  them  again  and  again.  The  conse- 
quences to  the  curriculum  of  the  elevation  of  geometry  to 
the  upper  school  are  far-reaching  in  a  negative  as  well  as 
in  a  positive  way.  Space  study  has  been  kept  out  of  the 
lower  schools  because  the  only  orthodox  form  of  space  study 
is  the  geometry  of  the  higher  schools.  Space  study  ought 
to  have  a  place  in  the  curriculum  of  every  grade. 

In  the  case  of  algebra,  on  the  other  hand,  tradition  has 
operated  to  keep  the  subject  in  the  lower  classes  of  the 
high  school.  That  it  would  be  better  to  change  this  situa- 
tion appears  in  the  fact  that  textbooks  in  algebra  have  in 
recent  years  been  made  much  easier  in  the  effort  to  fit  the 
subject  to  pupils'  needs,  in  the  fact  that  some  high  schools 
have  made  it  elective,  and  in  the  fact  that  some  high  schools 
have  rearranged  the  whole  subject-matter  of  mathematics, 
breaking  up  the  historical  lines  of  division. 


118     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

SUGGESTIONS  OF  NEW  SUBJECTS 

Other  evidences  that  the  curriculum  is  in  need  of  radical 
reform  appear  when  one  notes  that  schools  are  curiously 
blind  in  the  subjects  which  they  omit.  A  recent  writer  has 
pointed  out  in  a  very  interesting  way  the  weakness  of  the 
ordinary  school  in  its  failure  to  give  children  any  training 
in  the  use  of  money.  A  quotation  from  his  introductory 
chapter  will  show  the  force  of  his  criticism. 

Most  people  if  suddenly  asked,  "  What  financial  training  did  you 
have  as  a  child  ?  "  would  probably  say,  "  None."  If  asked,  "  What 
financial  training  are  you  giving  your  own  children  ?  "  many  parents 
would  give  the  same  answer.  All  parents,  however,  do  incidentally 
give  lessons  in  finance  and  a  few  give  definite  instruction  with 
regard  to  money. 

The  teacher,  if  thus  questioned,  would  usually  say  something 
about  arithmetic  or  perhaps  refer  to  some  system  of  money-saving 
that  is  being  operated  by  the  school.  Much  has  really  been  done 
that  educates  children  financially,  but  probably  not  one  person  in 
ten  has  ever  seriously  studied  the  problem  of  the  need  of  financial 
training  of  children  and  of  how  that  need  at  each  age  may  best 
be  met. 

A  moment's  reflection  tells  one  that  many  adults  do  not  know 
how  to  spend  their  money  wisely  and  that  still  fewer  know  how  to 
keep  it  safely  or  invest  it  successfully.  Every  day  we  see  people 
spending  money  in  ways  that  bring  little  satisfaction.  Others  are 
tortured  by  the  fear  of  losing  what  they  have,  while  still  others 
are  investing  in  schemes  that  promise  much  and  yield  little 
or  nothing. 

Charity  workers  are  especially  impressed  with  the  inability  of 
poor  people  to  spend  wisely  the  little  money  they  get.  One  woman 
whose  family  was  in  a  starving  condition  spent  all  of  the  dollar 
that  was  given  her  for  canned  lobster,  and  another  in  a  similar 
situation  had  a  picture  taken. 

Rich  sons  and  daughters  often  spend  the  money  accumulated 
by  their  fathers  in  even  more  foolish  ways.  In  general  it  is  only 
the  common  people  who  have  had  much  experience  in  saving  and 


CURRICULUM  AND  ITS  REORGANIZATION      119 

spending  money,  who  spend  it  wisely  and  many  of  these  have  paid 
a  high  price  for  their  knowledge.  If  carefully  planned  financial 
training  were  given,  the  number  spending  wisely  would  doubtless 
be  greatly  increased.1 

PRESENT-DAY  SOCIAL  DEMANDS 

Other  suggestions  are  being  made  these  days  for  a  change 
in  the  course  of  study.  Sometimes  the  suggestions  take  the 
form  of  social  movements.  Such  social  movements  often 
come  in  the  form  of  violent  criticisms  of  existing  practices. 
These  criticisms  will  be  understood  only  when  it  is  recog- 
nized that  back  of  them  there  is  often  a  social  pressure 
which  has  not  been  understood  and  is  now  finding  voice  in 
a  demand  that  requires  immediate  attention.  It  will  be  well 
for  us  to  seek  some  examples  of  this  type  in  order  that  we 
may  come  to  understand  that  the  school  system  is  answerable 
at  all  times  not  merely  to  earlier  social  ideals  which  were 
incorporated  into  courses  of  study  but  also  to  the  new  ideals 
which  arise  with  the  later  developments  of  community  life. 

I  An  example  of  the  type  we  are  seeking  appears  in  a  study 
which  was  made  in  1913  in  the  city  of  Minneapolis.  The 
following  extracts  from  an  article  published  on  March  10  in 
the  Morning  Tribune  of  that  city  state  the  case  fully  : 

A  year  ago  a  group  of  men  and  women  interested  in  the  welfare 
of  boys  and  girls,  and  somewhat  acquainted  with  conditions  that 
confront  them  upon  their  entrance  into  industrial  life,  decided  that 
it  was  time  to  make  a  survey  of  the  city.  There  had  been  much 
talk  of  training  for  the  trades  in  the  public  schools,  and  apparently 
there  was  reasonable  ground  for  this  advocacy.  .  .  . 

Was  there  a  real  demand,  or  was  this  a  new  educational  fad 
sweeping  across  the  country,  to  be  lost  in  the  great  abyss  of 
educational  nostrums,  along  with  vertical  writing  and  basketry  ? 
That  was  to  be  determined. 

1  Kdwin  A.  Kirkpatrick,  The  L'sc  of  Money,  pp.  1-2.  The  Hobbs-Merrill 
Company,  1915. 


120     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

Educators  are  usually  learned  men ;  but  this  world  generally 
does  not  ascribe  to  them  an  abundance  of  sound  sense.  These 
learned  men  have  charge  of  the  greatest  plant  in  the  world  —  our 
schools.  A  half  million  employees  are  at  work  at  an  annual  ex- 
pense to  the  nation  of  $450,000,000.  The  product  of  this  institu- 
tion should  be  manhood  and  womanhood,  efficient  to  take  its  place 
in  the  world  of  workers,  and  firmly  established  in  habits  of  right 
thinking  and  noble  action.  Yet  who  is  accounted  efficient  for  the 
work  of  to-day  ? 

Certainly  not  the  armorer,  no  matter  how  skilled  —  for  what 
need  have  we  of  him  ?  Possibly  not  the  bootmaker ;  for  the  best 
and  latest  in  boots  come  from  big  factories.  And  so  rapidly  do 
industries  change  that  confusion  awaits  the  man  still  using  methods 
of  ten  years  ago.  No  system  of  education  can  be  efficient  until 
the  conditions  of  life  to  which  pupils  go  are  thoroughly  known. 
No  manufacturer  would  think  of  setting  his  machines  to  make 
"  what-nots  "  or  muzzle-loading  guns ;  they  were  all  right  in  their 
day  but  that  day  is  now  yesterday.  The  first  thing  for  the  man  of 
business  is  to  know  what  the  market  demands.  And  the  managers 
of  the  schools  must  explore  their  market  to  know  what  is  demanded 
of  the  education  factory.  That  is  the  reason  for  this  survey. 

The  commission  was  made  up  of  persons  well  known  in  the 
city  and  representative  of  differing  interests.  .  .  . 

Ten  months  were  spent  in  gathering  the  information,  and  a 
month  in  studying  it  and  getting  it  into  shape  for  presentation. 
The  tables  have  been  arranged  in  the  following  order :  First,  a  set 
of  three  tables,  showing  the  sources  of  the  material  studied,  by 
school,  by  age,  by  grade,  and  by  nationality,  and  the  causes  of 
retardation  ;  second,  a  table  showing  upon  whom  the  responsibility 
should  be  placed  for  the  child's  leaving  school ;  third,  four  tables 
setting  forth  the  reasons  for  leaving  school,  and  the  economic 
status  of  the  family ;  fourth,  a  table  indicating  the  education  of 
the  children  after  leaving  the  public  school ;  and  fifth,  five  tables 
showing  the  industrial  history  of  each  child,  his  wages,  the  number 
of  jobs,  the  kind  of  work,  and  his  advancement. 

In  the  discussion  comparisons  are  frequently  made  with  similar 
reports  from  other  cities,  and  following  these  are  the  conclusions 
reached  by  the  committee  and  recommendations  for  further  work, 


CURRICULUM  AND  ITS  REORGANIZATION     121 

It  will  not  be  possible  to  give  in  detail  all  the  results 
thus  obtained.  It  must  suffice  to  repeat  here  the  figures 
which  summarize  the  table  of  causes  for  leaving  school. 
The  percentages  of  pupils  leaving  for  each  cause  are  given 
with  the  statement  of  the  cause. 

Ill  health 5.7  per  cent 

Had  to  go  to  work 35.5  per  cent 

Child's  desire  to  earn  money 8.2  per  cent 

Kept  vacation  work 2.6  per  cent 

Disliked  or  not  interested  in  school  ....  29.6  per  cent 

Trouble  with  teacher 3.  i  per  cent 

Failure  to  pass i .  i  per  cent 

Further  public  school  not  worth  while    .     .     .  14.2  per  cent 

The  number  of  pupils  who  leave  because  they  do  not 
like  school  or  do  not  believe  it  worth  while  is  disturbingly 
large.  That  there  should  be  so  pronounced  an  adverse 
judgment  on  the  part  of  pupils  is  perhaps  to  be  explained 
in  a  measure  by  their  immaturity  and  restlessness  ;  but  part 
of  the  school's  problem  is  to  meet  this  immaturity  and 
restlessness  and  to  train  the  pupils  with  full  regard  to  all 
that  goes  to  make  up  their  individual  tastes  and  abilities. 

It  is  especially  important  that  a  careful  study  be  made  of 
all  available  recommendations  for  improving  the  situation. 
We  turn,  therefore,  to  some  of  the  leading  recommendations 
of  the  Minneapolis  commission  : 

That  as  rapidly  as  would  be  economical,  the  schools  be  organ- 
ized on  the  "  six-three-and-three "  plan,  beginning  differentiated 
courses  in  the  B  seventh  grade.  These  courses  should  follow  three 
broad  lines:  (i)  Leading  toward  the  academic  courses  in  high 
schools.  (2)  Toward  the  commercial  courses,  or  directly  to  busi- 
ness. (3)  Toward  manual  training  in  high  school,  or  directly  to 
manufacturing  and  mechanical  pursuits. 

That  preparation  for  the  trades  can  be  best  and  most  economi- 
cally closely  related  to  working  conditions,  while  the  necessary 
skill  shall  be  gained  in  actual  work  under  the  usual  commercial 
conditions. 


122     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

That  the  membership  of  the  Thomas  Arnold  school  be  enlarged 
to  include  all  boys  who  have  reached  the  age  of  fifteen  and  have 
not  yet  reached  the  seventh  grade.  And  that  a  similar  school  be 
organized  for  girls. 

That  a  department  of  vocational  guidance  be  organized. 

That,  as  an  adjunct  to  the  board  of  education,  an  advisory 
commission  of  15  members,  composed  of  employees,  employers 
and  educators,  be  established,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  report 
changes  in  the  demands  of  business  and  industry,  and  to  advise 
modifications  of  the  course  of  study  to  meet  these  new  demands. 

That  a  law  should  be  enacted,  making  it  mandatory  that  a  boy 
shall  be  either  in  school  or  at  work  up  to  his  eighteenth  year,  and 
that  the  department  of  vocational  guidance  be  charged  with  the 
duty  of  enforcing  such  a  provision. 

This  report  has  been  reproduced  at  length  because  it 
furnishes  a  concrete  example  of  the  kind  of  demand  which 
is  being  made  on  many  sides  for  a  complete  remaking  of 
the  curriculum.  The  comments  about  school  officers  are 
also  typical  of  much  that  is  being  laid  at  the  door  of  the 
present-day  pedagogue.  Better  than  any  theoretical  answer 
to  these  critics  is  a  careful  study  of  the  whole  problem  of 
reorganizing  the  curriculum. 


TRADITIONAL  NEGLECT  OF  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION  ON 
THE  PART  OF  THE  PUBLIC 

The  reasonableness  of  the  demand  that  the  schools  pre- 
pare boys  and  girls  for  their  work  in  the  world  raises  at 
once  the  question  :  Why  have  the  schools  ever  neglected 
this  need  ?  The  answer  to  this  question  is  supplied  in 
part  by  the  remoter  history  of  schools  which  was  touched 
on  in  an  earlier  chapter  and  in  the  early  paragraphs  of  this 
chapter.  European  and  American  schools  first  dealt  with 
professional  and  theological  problems  and  have  accordingly 
always  had  a  strong  leaning  toward  the  literary  subjects. 


CURRICULUM  AND  ITS  REORGANIZATION      123 

The  early  history  of  the  American  educational  system 
throws  light  on  this  particular  matter  in  a  way  which  will 
help  the  reader  to  understand  the  present  situation  with 
regard  to  industrial  education  and  traditional  education. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  New  England  colonies  were 
passing  laws  establishing  schools  where  children  were  to 
learn  to  read  the  Bible,  they  provided  in  such  laws  as  the 
following  for  training  in  industrial  lines.  The  Connecticut 
law  of  1650  provides  that  "all  parents  and  masters  do  breed 
and  bring  up  their  children  and  apprentices  in  some  honest 
lawful  labor,  or  employment,  either  in  husbandry  or  some 
other  trade  profitable  for  themselves  and  the  commonwealth, 
if  they  will  not  nor  cannot  train  them  up  in  learning,  to  fit 
them  for  higher  employments,  and  if  any  of  the  selectmen, 
after  admonition  by  them  given  to  such  masters  of  families, 
shall  find  them  still  negligent  of  their  duty,  .  .  .  the  said 
selectmen,  with  the  help  of  two  magistrates,  shall  take  such 
children  or  apprentices  from  them,  and  place  them  with  some 
masters  for  years,  boys  until  they  come  to  be  twenty-one, 
and  girls  to  eighteen  years  of  age  complete." 

The  conception  of  responsibility  which  lies  back  of  this 
law  is  wholly  different  from  that  expressed  in  the  legisla- 
tion providing  for  reading-schools.  A  public  officer  was 
put  in  charge  of  reading.  He  was  stimulated  to  carry  on 
his  work  by  the  rewards  which  he  received  in  the  way 
of  compensation  for  his  services.  The  control  of  industrial 
education  by  the  public  was  very  slight.  We  can  imagine 
some  selectman  whose  attention  was  by  chance  drawn  to  a 
neglected  child,  debating  with  himself  the  wisdom  of  setting 
in  motion  the  magistrates  and  his  fellow  selectmen  in  en- 
forcing this  somewhat  vague  law.  The  fact  is  that  the  law 
was  not  enforced.  It  became  a  dead  letter,  and  public  atten- 
tion to  vocational  education  has  no  history  in  this  country 
until  recent  years,  when  the  pressure  of  industrial  competition 
has  forced  its  recognition. 


124    THE 'SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

In  the  early  days  of  the  nation's  life  the  absence  of  any 
definite  plan  for  public  vocational  education  of  young  people 
was  not  a  serious  matter.  Industrial  life  was  relatively  sim- 
ple, and  the  family  lived  .close  to  its  sources  of  supplies. 
The  family  was  able  to  take  care  of  the  children's  prepara- 
tion for  industrial  life  without  aid  or  interference  from  the 
state.  But  social  and  industrial  conditions  have  changed. 
With  the  development  of  factories,  of  elaborate  systems  of 
transportation,  and  of  urban  life  it  is  no  longer  possible  for 
the  family  to  train  the  children,  and  the  demand  begins  to 
be  urgently  felt  that  some  agency  give  adequate  preparation 
for  the  practical  later  life  of  the  children,  and  that  more 
especially  where  families  are  not  well-to-do. 

For  a  long  period  after  this  demand  was  felt  the  school 
went  on  with  its  specialized  task,  and  the  public  was  com- 
placent to  see  the  school  neglect  vocational  training.  The 
specialized  task  of  the  school,  as  thought  of  in  those  days, 
was  to  teach  reading  and  the  other  subjects  which  naturally 
attached  themselves  to  the  literary  tendencies  that  grew  up 
in  a  reading-school.  Private  institutions,  such  as  business 
colleges,  sprang  up  as  agencies  for  satisfying  the  demand 
for  special  vocational  training.  These  were  tuition  schools 
and  secured  their  students  in  many  cases  by  criticizing  the 
public  school  as  incompetent  and  wasteful.  In  some  cases 
employers,  realizing  the  necessity  of  training  their  workers, 
made  it  a  part  of  their  industrial  organization  to  teach  cer- 
tain branches  of  the  trades.  In  other  cases,  a  boy  going 
into  an  occupation  which  had  no  regular  training-school, 
either  in  a  private  institution  or  in  the  industrial  plant, 
got  his  training  as  best  he  could  by  accepting  a  low  wage 
and  blundering  along  until  he  learned  his  trade.  Even 
to-day  the  private  training  of  young  people  for  industry 
is  conducted  on  a  scale  that  shows  how  new  is  the  idea 
that  the  public  school  is  responsible  in  any  degree  for 
such  training. 


CURRICULUM  AND  ITS  REORGANIZATION      125 

THE  DEMAND  FOR  REVISION  OF  THE  CURRICULUM 

The  historical  sketch  given  above  illustrates,  as  do  the 
earlier  examples  presented  in  this  chapter,  the  natural  con- 
servatism of  the  school  curriculum  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
inevitableness  of  an  expansion  of  the  school  on  the  other. 
Historically,  the  common  school  had  no  duties  in  the  direc- 
tion of  vocational  training.  But  we  are  beginning  to  realize 
that  it  is  not  profitable  to  try  to  throw  off  responsibility. 
To-day  the  school  must  cope  with  an  urgent  social  problem. 
The  curriculum  was  and  is  literary  in  its  major  content. 
The  problem  of  the  future  is  to  expand  it  so  that  it  shall 
combine  with  its  literary  content  a  new  and  productive  body 
of  vocational  training. 

SUMMARY 

Our  study  of  the  curriculum  has  established,  first,  the  important 
fact  that  courses  of  study  are  real  factors  to  be  dealt  with  in  any 
school  situation ;  second,  the  motives  which  give  rise  to  particular 
forms  of  instruction  are  superseded  in  the  course  of  school  history 
by  new  social  needs.  Nevertheless,  the  curriculum  tends  to  persist, 
and  often  because  of  its  conservatism  becomes  a  menace  to  prog- 
ress. Suggestions  for  innovations  come  through  the  insights  of 
individuals  or  through  the  formulation  of  social  demands.  What- 
ever the  source  of  suggestions  for  change,  the  student  of  education 
will  find  his  problem  in  the  fact  that  the  curriculum  is  undergoing 
change  as  is  every  other  phase  of  modern  life.  How  to  under- 
stand the  changes  that  are  imminent  and  how  to  direct  them  into 
productive  channels  is  a  major  problem  of  the  science  of  education. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

Find  new  subjects  other  than  those  mentioned  in  the  text  which 
have  been  introduced  into  either  the  high-school  curriculum  or  into 
the  curriculum  of  the  grades.  Within  the  older  courses  find  some 
new  topics  which  have  been  introduced.  New  subjects  in  general 
arc  not  looked  on  as  entirely  respectable.  Why  is  this  ?  What 
should  be  done  to  make  them  respectable  ? 


126     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

Why  does  training  for  vocation  seem  less  respectable  than  con- 
ventional school  work  ?  What  is  to  be  done  to  meet  this  situation  ? 

Do  people  in  general  know  what  changes  ought  to  be  made  in 
the  curriculum  ?  Note  that  the  Minneapolis  study  found  difficul- 
ties. For  these  it  had  clear  scientific  evidence.  Did  it  have  equally 
clear  grounds  for  its  recommendations  ?  Should  it  have  had  ?'  How 
could  it  secure  evidence  of  this  latter  type  ? 

Relating  this  discussion  to  the  first  paragraphs  of  Chapter  I,  let 
us  inquire  what  steps  with  regard  to  informing  the  community  are 
necessary  to  the  success  of  a  new  program  of  studies. 

Whose  duty  is  it  to  plan  new  courses  —  that  of  the  board  of 
education,  the  superintendent,  or  the  teacher  who  is  a  specialist  in 
some  subject  ? 

BOBBITT,  J.  F.  What  the  Schools  Teach  and  Might  Teach.  Pub- 
lished by  the  Survey  Committee  of  the  Cleveland  Foundation. 
(Copies  may  be  secured  from  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation.) 

Koos,  L.  V.  The  Administration  of  Secondary-School  Units.  Sup- 
plementary Educational  Monograph  No.  3,  Vol.  I,  of  the  School 
Review  and  the  Elementary  School  Journal.  The  University  of 
Chicago  Press.  Contains  a  summary  of  the  practices  of  the  ap- 
proved schools  of  the  North  Central  Association. 

Minimum  Essentials  in  Elementary-School  Subjects.  Fourteenth  Year- 
book of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Education,  Part  I, 
1915.  Public  School  Publishing  Company,  Bloomington,  Illinois. 
This  is  an  effort  to  bring  together  a  statement  of  the  essential 
requirements  for  the  elementary  curriculum. 

Report  of  the  Committee  of  Ten  on  Secondary  Education.  National 
Education  Association.  American  Book  Company.  The  most  im- 
portant report  ever  prepared  in  relation  to  the  organization  and 
courses  of  study  of  the  high  school.  Its  appearance  marked  the 
beginnings  of  the  present  era  of  high-school  expansion. 


CHAPTER  IX 

SPECIALIZED  EDUCATION  VERSUS  GENERAL 
EDUCATION 

PRESENT-DAY  WAVERING  BETWEEN  SPECIALIZED  AND 
GENERAL  TRAINING 

Because  there  is  an  urgent  social  demand  for  the  reor- 
ganization of  the  curriculum  and  because  the  principles 
which  should  underlie  a  sound  curriculum  are  as  yet  not 
clear,  there  is  much  running  back  and  forth  in  the  educa- 
tional world  and  much  controversy  that  at  times  grows  very 
bitter  and  even  personal.  Experiments  are  set  up  and 
lauded  or  assailed.  Optimists  are  hopeful  that  out  of  this 
experimentation  will  come  much  good.  Pessimists  see  in  it 
the  failure  of  a  democratic  educational  system. 

The  recent  controversies  have  revived  the  ancient  dispute 
between  a  general  education  which  makes  the  "all-round 
man  "  and  specialized  education  which  serves  some  partic- 
ular purpose.  This  controversy  can  be  illustrated  by  two 
kinds  of  examples.  First,  let  us  listen  to  those  who  are 
interested  in  higher  education  for  the  classes  of  students 
who  are  going  to  high  school  and  college.  Later  we  shall 
find  that  there  is  another  level  at  which  the  same  kind  of 
controversy  is  going  forward. 

The  following  statements  and  counter-statements  illustrate 
the  extent  to  which  the  dispute  is  carried  : 

I  suggest,  that,  in  the  first  place,  a  man  educated  in  the  modern 
sense,  has  mastered  the  fundamental  tools  of  knowledge :  he  can 
read  and  write ;  he  can  spell  the  words  he  is  in  the  habit  of  using ; 
he  can  express  himself  clearly  orally  or  in  writing ;  he  can  figure 

'27 


128     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

correctly  and  with  moderate  facility  within  the  limits  of  practical 
need ;  he  knows  something  about  the  globe  on  which  he  lives.  So 
far  there  is  no  difference  between  a  man  educated  in  the  modern 
sense  and  a  man  educated  in  any  other  sense. 

There  is,  however,  a  marked  divergence  at  the  next  step.  The 
education  which  we  are  criticizing  is  overwhelmingly  formal  and 
traditional.  If  objection  is  made  to  this  or  that  study  on  the  ground 
that  it  is  useless  or  unsuitable,  the  answer  comes  that  it  "  trains 
the  mind  "  or  has  been  valued  for  centuries.  "  Training  the  mind  " 
in  the  sense  in  which  the  claim  is  thus  made  for  algebra  or  ancient 
languages  is  an  assumption  none  too  well  founded ;  traditional 
esteem  is  an  insufficient  offset  to  present  and  future  uselessness. 
A  man  educated  in  the  modern  sense  will  forego  the  somewhat 
doubtful  mental  discipline  received  from  formal  studies  ;  he  will  be 
contentedly  ignorant  of  things  for  learning  which  no  better  reason 
than  tradition  can  be  assigned.  Instead,  his  education  will  be 
obtained  from  studies  that  serve  real  purposes.  Its  content,  spirit 
and  aim  will  be  realistic  and  genuine,  not  formal  or  traditional. 
Thus,  the  man  educated  in  the  modern  sense  will  be  trained  to 
know,  to  care  about  and  to  understand  the  world  he  lives  in,  both 
the  physical  world  and  the  social  world.  A  firm  grasp  of  the  phys- 
ical world  means  the  capacity  to  note  and  to  interpret  phenomena ; 
a  firm  grasp  of  the  social  world  means  a  comprehension  of  and 
sympathy  with  current  industry,  current  science  and  current  politics. 
The  extent  to  which  the  history  and  literature  of  the  past  are  util- 
ized depends,  not  on  what  we  call  the  historic  value  of  this  or  that 
performance  or  classic,  but  on  its  actual  pertinency  to  genuine  need, 
interest  or  capacity.  In  any  case,  the  object  in  view  would  be  to 
give  children  the  knowledge  they  need,  and  to  develop  in  them  the 
power  to  handle  themselves  in  our  own  world.  Neither  historic 
nor  what  are  called  purely  cultural  claims  would  alone  be  regarded 
as  compelling. 

Even  the  progressive  curricula  of  the  present  time  are  far  from 
accepting  the  principle  above  formulated.  For,  though  they  include 
things  that  serve  purposes,  their  eliminations  are  altogether  too 
timid.  They  have  occasionally  dropped,  occasionally  curtailed, 
what  experience  shows  to  be  either  unnecessary  or  hopelessly 
unsuitable.  But  they  retain  the  bulk  of  the  traditional  course  of 


SPECIALIZED  AND  GENERAL  EDUCATION     129 

study,  and  present  it  in  traditional  fashion,  because  an  overwhelm- 
ing case  has  not  —  so  it  is  judged  —  yet  been  made  against  it.  If, 
however,  the  standpoint  which  I  have  urged  were  adopted,  the 
curriculum  would  contain  only  what  can  be  shown  to  serve  a  pur- 
pose. The  burden  of  proof  would  be  on  the  subject,  not  on  those 
who  stand  ready  to  eliminate  it.  If  the  subject  serves  a  purpose, 
it  is  eligible  to  the  curriculum ;  otherwise  not.  I  need  not  stop  at 
this  juncture  to  show  that  "serving  a  purpose,"  "useful,"  "gen- 
uine," "  realistic,"  and  other  descriptive  terms  are  not  synonymous 
with  "  utilitarian,"  "  materialistic,"  "  commercial,"  etc.,  for  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  purposes  are  genuine  and  valid,  precisely  as 
are  physical,  physiological,  and  industrial  purposes.1 

The  answer  in  florid  and  perfervid  terms  offered  by  a 
champion  of  the  classics  is  as  follows : 

I  have  left  myself  only  a  few  words  to  sum  up  and  define  the 
main  issue  raised  by  the  so-called  modernist  reform  of  education. 
It  is  not  the  place  of  physical  science  in  our  civilization  and  in  our 
universities :  that  is  secure.  It  is  not  the  opportunity  of  industrial 
or  vocational  training  for  the  masses :  we  all  welcome  that.  It  is 
not  the  conversion  of  the  American  high  school  into  the  old  Latin- 
verse-writing  English  public  school :  nobody  ever  proposed  that. 
It  is  not  the  prescription  of  a  universal  requirement  of  Greek  or 
the  maintenance  of  a  disproportionate  predominance  of  Latin  in 
our  high  schools  and  colleges :  there  is  not  the  slightest  danger  of 
that.  It  is  the  survival  or  the  total  suppression,  in  the  comparatively 
small  class  of  educated  leaders  who  graduate  from  high  schools 
and  colleges,  of  the  very  conception  of  linguistic,  literary,  and 
critical  discipline ;  of  culture,  taste,  and  standards ;  of  the  historic 
sense  itself ;  of  some  trained  faculty  of  appreciation  and  enjoyment 
of  our  rich  heritage  from  the  civilized  past ;  of  some  counterbal- 
ancing familiarity  with  the  actual  evolution  of  the  human  man,  to 
soften  the  rigidities  of  physical  science,  and  to  check  and  control 
by  the  touchstones  of  humor  and  common  sense  the  a  priori  de- 
ductions of  pseudo-science  from  conjectural  reconstructions  of  the 
evolution  of  the  physical  and  animal  man. 

1  Abraham  Klcxncr,  A  Modern  School,  pp.  8-9.  Published  by  the 
General  Education  Hoard,  New  York  City.  1016. 


130     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

It  is  in  vain  that  they  rejoin  that  they  too  care  for  these  things, 
and  merely  repudiate  our  exclusive  definitions  of  them.  That  is,  in 
the  main,  only  oratorical  precaution  and  the  tactics  of  debate,  as, 
if  space  permitted,  I  could  show  by  hundreds  of  citations  from  their 
books.  The  things  which,  for  lack  of  better  names,  we  try  to 
suggest  by  culture,  discipline,  taste,  standards,  criticism,  and  the 
historic  sense,  they  hate.  Or,  if  you  prefer,  they  are  completely 
insensitive  to  them  and  wish  to  impose  their  own  insensibility  upon 
the  coming  generation.  They  are  genuinely  skeptical  of  intellectual 
discriminations  which  they  do  not  perceive,  and  aesthetic  values 
which  they  do  not  feel.  They  are  fiercely  resentful  of  what  they 
deem  the  supercilious  arrogance  of  those  who  possess  or  strive  for 
some  far-off  touch  or  faint  tincture  of  the  culture  and  discipline 
which  they  denounce  as  shibboleths,  taboos,  and  the  arbitrary 
conventions  of  pedants. 

From  their  own  point  of  view  it  is  natural  that  they  should 
deprecate  with  sullen  jealousy  the  inoculation  of  the  adolescent 
mind  with  standards  and  tastes  that  would  render  it  immune  to 
what  one  of  them  has  commended  in  print  as  the  "  science  "  of 
Elsie  Clews  Parsons.  The  purpose,  or,  at  any  rate,  the  tendency 
of  their  policies  is  to  stamp  out  and  eradicate  these  things  and 
inculcate  exclusively  their  own  tastes  and  ideals  by  controlling 
American  education  with  the  political  efficiency  of  Prussian  autoc- 
racy and  in  the  fanatical  intolerance  of  the  French  anticlericalists. 
Greek  and  Latin  have  become  mere  symbols  and  pretexts.  They 
are  as  contemptuous  of  Dante,  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Racine, 
Burke,  John  Stuart  Mill,  Tennyson,  Alexander  Hamilton,  or 
Lowell,  as  of  Homer,  Sophocles,  Virgil,  or  Horace.  They  will 
wipe  the  slate  clean  of  everything  that  antedates  Darwin's  Descent 
of  Man,  Mr.  Wells's  Research  Magnificent,  and  the  familiar  pathos 
of  James  Whitcomb  Riley's  vernacular  verse. 

These  are  the  policies  that  mask  as  compassion  for  the  child 
bored  by  literature  which,  they  say,  it  cannot  be  expected  to  appre- 
ciate and  understand,  or  behind  the  postulate  that  we  should 
develop  aesthetic  and  literary  sensibilities  only  by  means  of  the 
literature  that  expresses  the  spirit  of  modern  science,  not  that 
which  preserves  in  amber  the  husks  of  the  dead  past.1 

1  Paul  Shorey,"The  Assault  on  Humanism,"  Atlantic  Monthly,  July,  1917. 


SPECIALIZED  AND  GENERAL  EDUCATION     131 

THE  THEORY  OF  SEPARATE  SCHOOLS  FOR  DIFFERENT 
CLASSES  OF  PEOPLE 

Both  writers  above  quoted  are  speaking  of  those  learners 
who  are  to  have  large  opportunities  of  higher  education. 
What  is  to  happen  to  the  common  masses,  to  whom  the 
last  writer  grants  the  "  opportunity  of  industrial  or  vocational 
training,"  is  still  in  doubt.  There  are,  however,  disputants 
who  are  trying  to  settle  this  question  also.  To  illustrate  we 
may  borrow  from  a  pamphlet  issued  by  a  great  commercial 
organization  in  its  campaign  for  legislation  which  should 
transform  the  school  system  of  the  city  of  Chicago  and  the 
state  of  Illinois. 

STATEMENT  OF  PRINCIPLES 

Definition  :  Vocational  education  includes  all  forms  of  special- 
ized education,  the  controlling  purposes  of  which  are  to  fit  for  useful 
occupations,  whether  in  agriculture,  commerce,  industry  or  the 
household  arts. 

1.  State  aid  is  necessary  to  stimulate  and  encourage  communi- 
ties to  carry  on  work  in  vocational  education,  but  local  communities 
should  be  permitted  to  initiate  and  should  partly  maintain  such 
courses  or  schools. 

2.  The  vocational  schools  should  not  compete  or  interfere  with 
the  present  public  school  system,  but  should  supplement  it  by  pro- 
viding practical  instruction  in  vocational  lines  for  youth  between 
fourteen  and  eighteen  who  have  left  the  present  schools.    To  guard 
against  any  competition  with  the  public  schools  as  now  organized, 
a  special  tax  should  be  levied  for  the  support  of  vocational  schools, 
which,  with  the  State  grant  for  their  support,  should  not  be  taken 
from  the  funds  now  provided  by  law  for  the  support  of  the  public 
school  system. 

3.  The    proper  expenditure   of    State   moneys    for  vocational 
schools  should  be  fully  safeguarded,  while  at  the  same  time  the 
initiative  in  adapting  measures  to  local  conditions  should  be  left 
with  the  local  authorities.    To  secure  these  ends  the  general  man- 
agement and  approval  of  these  courses  and  schools  should  be  left 


132     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

to  a  State  commission,  while  the  local  initiative  and  direct  control 
should  be  exercised  by  a  local  board  composed  of  employers,  skilled 
employees  and  local  superintendents  of  schools. 

4.  An  efficient  system  of  vocational  education  requires  different 
methods  of  administration,  different  courses  of  study,  different 
qualifications  of  teachers,  different  equipment,  different  ways  of 
meeting  the  needs  of  pupils  and  much  greater  flexibility  in  adapt- 
ing means  to  ends  than  is  possible  under  the  ordinary  system  of 
public  school  administration.  For  these  reasons  these  schools 
should  be  under  a  separate  board  of  control,  whether  carried  on 
in  a  separate  building  or  under  the  same  roof  with  a  general 
school,  so  that  they  may  be  free  to  realize  their  dominant  purpose 
of  fitting  for  useful  employment.1 

If  the  last  two  quotations  are  stripped  of  their  decorations, 
they  reveal  a  demand  for  a  distinct  class  system  of  education. 
Broad  education  is  for  the  few.  Specialized  education  is 
another  matter,  —  let  it  be  developed  for  the  masses. 

PUBLIC  DEMAND  FOR  A  NEW  CURRICULUM 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  masses,  so  far  as  they 
can  express  themselves,  are  asking  for  a  change  in  the 
traditional  curriculum  and  are  likely  to  get  it.  The  masses 
are  expressing  their  demands  through  the  courses  sought 
by  their  children. 

Our  problem  will  perhaps  be  clearer  if  we  turn  from  the 
writings  of  those  who  discuss  these  matters  to  the  changes 
which  are  actually  going  on  in  the  schools  of  the  country. 

COMMERCIAL  COURSES  IN  HIGH  SCHOOLS 

High  schools  in  all  parts  of  the  country  are  giving 
commercial  courses  in  increasing  degree.  The  first  type  of 
industrial  education  to  be  extensively  cultivated  in  the 
United  States  was  commercial  education.  This  consisted  in 

1  Vocational  Schools  for  Illinois,  pp.  1-2.  Published  by  the  Commercial 
Club  of  Chicago. 


SPECIALIZED  AND  GENERAL  EDUCATION     133 

training  for  clerical  positions  and  was  carried  on  for  the 
most  part  in  private  "  business  colleges."  The  reason  for 
the  early  demand  for  this  particular  kind  of  training  is  to 
be  sought  in  the  fact  that  America  has  for  years  been  a 
country  devoted  on  a  vast  scale  to  exporting  raw  materials. 
Commercial  training,  which  has  to  do  with  the  shipping  of 
goods,  was  accordingly  the  first  to  grow  here.  The  extent 
of  the  demand  for  commercial  training  is  vividly  set  forth 
in  a- report  of  the  City  Club  of  Chicago  published  in  1912, 
which  contains  the  following  chart : 

ENROLLMENT  IN  PRIVATE  VOCATIONAL  SCHOOLS  AND 
IN  PUBLIC  HIGH  SCHOOLS  OF  CHICAGO1 


There  are  at  least  There  are  only 

19,000  STUDENTS  17,781  STUDENTS 

in  in  all 

Private  Commercial  Schools 

PubllC  HlSh  Schools 


and  800  in 

Private  Industrial  Schools  ««  Chicago 

in  Chicago,  and  at  least 

$1,485,000  $1,114,526 

is  paid  for  is  expended  for 

TUITION  MAINTENANCE 


Kit;.  12 

The  high  schools  of  the  country  entered  into  competition 
with  the  private  commercial  schools,  and  for  some  years  the 
competition  has  been  running  high.  The  private  schools 
solicit  and  get  a  large  patronage  on  the  ground  that  they 
do  not  teach  anything  that  is  useless.  They  give  short, 
compact  courses  fitted  to  pupils'  needs.  The  high  schools 
point  out  that  the  short  courses  leave  the  stenographer  with 
a  meager  vocabulary  and  the  clerk  with  no  outlook  on  life. 

1  A  Report  on  Vocational  Training  in  <  'hicago  and  in  ( >ther  Cities,  p.  38. 
Published  by  the  City  Club  of  Chicago,  iyu. 


134     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

The  public  schools  are  gradually  pulling  ahead  of  their 
competitors  because  they  are  employing  a  higher  grade  of 
teachers  than  formerly  and  are  doing  the  work  in  a  fashion 
which  is  technically  more  complete.  In  the  meantime  the 
commercial  courses  are  becoming  more  "  respectable  "  and 
are  being  taken  by  a  better  grade  of  students.  The  effect 
of  the  election  of  commercial  courses  by  a  better  grade  of 
students  is  such  as  to  modify  the  whole  program  of  the 
school  in  the  direction  of  more  attention  to  the  needs  and 
practices  of  business  life. 

AGRICULTURAL  HIGH  SCHOOLS 

A  second  type  of  vocational  course  appears  in  the  high 
schools  of  rural  communities  where  much  attention  is  being 
devoted  to  agriculture.  Indeed,  the  increase  in  the  number 
of  high  schools  in  the  country  in  recent  years  has  been  very 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  rural  communities  have  taken 
an  interest  in  carrying  the  training  of  pupils  beyond  the 
rudimentary  subjects  of  the  elementary  curriculum. 

This  movement  relates  itself  to  the  development  of  a 
department  of  agriculture  in  the  Federal  government  and 
to  the  generous  subsidy  through  that  department  for  agri- 
cultural experiments  in  centers  of  education  in  all  the  states. 
Three  years  ago  a  large  Federal  subsidy  was  set  aside  for 
the  further  promotion  of  agricultural  demonstrations  and 
schools,  and  the  recently  enacted  Federal  legislation  for 
industrial  education  includes  provision  for  more  agriculture. 

PART-TIME  COURSES 

A  third  movement  which  has  recently  attracted  a  great 
deal  of  attention  and  favorable  comment  was  started  in  the 
engineering  school  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati  and  is 
known  as  the  part-time  plan.  Classes  are  organized  in  such 
a  way  that  their  members  spend  one  week  or  one  month  in 


SPECIALIZED  AND  GENERAL  EDUCATION     135 

the  shop  of  some  manufacturing  plant  and  the  next  period 
in  school.  A  second  group  alternates  in  the  reverse  order, 
so  that  the  shop  and  the  school  are  at  all  times  engaged 
in  regular  work.  Where  this  plan  is  well  organized,  there 
is  a  special  school  officer,  called  a  correlator,  who  sees  to  it 
that  there  is  some  direct  connection  between  the  shop  work 
and  the  courses  taken  up  in  the  schools. 

The  part-time  plan  aims  to  supply  that  mixture  of  prac- 
tical opportunity  and  training  in  science,  mathematics,  and 
the  academic  subjects  which  will  lead  to  both  vocational 
efficiency  and  a  general  education. 

VARIOUS  TYPES  OF  TRADE  SCHOOLS 

Fourth,  there  are  all  kinds  of  schools  for  young  people 
in  the  trades.  Some  of  these  hold  their  sessions  at  night, 
when  the  working  day  is  over,  and  others  are  organized  to 
take  the  young  worker  out  of  the  shop  or  store  for  a  limited 
number  of  hours  during  the  working  day.  In  the  matter  of 
instruction  some  give  only  special  training  intended  to  make 
the  worker  more  skillful ;  others  give  general  courses  in 
civics,  or  history,  or  even  in  literary  subjects. 

Some  of  these  schools  for  workers  are  organized  by  the 
corporations  which  employ  the  workers.  Thus,  telephone 
companies  and  dry-goods  stores  find  that  it  is  economical  to 
train  their  employees.  Some  of  the  schools  are  conducted 
by  the  school  system  and  are  provided  with  pupils  either 
through  the  voluntary  demand  on  the  part  of  learners  or 
through  the  operation  of  state  laws  or  municipal  ordinances 
compelling  children  to  attend  such  schools  until  they  are 
of  a  certain  age. 

Fifth,  trade  training  is  provided  not  merely  for  those  in  the 
trades  but  also  for  those  who  are  preparing  to  enter  them. 
Trade  schools  are  sometimes  supported  out  of  the  public 
purse,  sometimes  by  private  endowments.  The  method  of 


136     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

instruction  is  that  of  requiring  the  learner  to  go  through  a 
definite  series  of  exercises  which  will  give  him  skill  in  the 
trade.  The  strictly  technical  training  is  usually  supplemented 
by  some  "general"  training. 

The  following  quotation  gives  a  brief  summary  by  one 
specialist  in  vocational  education  of  the  writings  of  another 
specialist  in  the  same  field  : 

THE  MANHATTAN  TRADE  SCHOOL,  NEW  YORK  CITY 

This  trade  school  for  girls  is  now  a  part  of  the  public-school 
system  of  New  York  City.  Its  early  history  as  a  privately  sup- 
ported institution  is  of  absorbing  interest,  and  has  been  tersely 
written  by  Mrs.  Mary  Schenck  Woolman,  in  her  book  entitled 
"  The  Making  of  a  Trade  School."  In  this  volume  she  gives  an 
interesting  account  of  the  first  experiment  in  the  United  States  to 
deal  in  an  adequate  way  with  the  problem  of  furnishing  vocational 
training  and  guidance  to  children  destined  to  enter  industrial  life, 
otherwise  wholly  unprepared,  at  the  earliest  possible  age. 

The  aim  of  the  school  is  frankly  stated  to  be  the  giving  of  help 
to  the  youngest  wage  earners,  but  its  ideals  are  of  considerable 
breadth.  They  are  to  demonstrate  to  the  community  what  educa- 
tion is  needed  for  "  the  lowest  rank  of  women  workers  "  in  order 
that  a  girl  may  become  self-supporting  and  adaptable,  "  under- 
stand her  relation  to  her  employer,  to  her  fellow  workers,  and  to 
her  product,"  and  value  health  and  moral  and  intellectual 
development. 

The  necessity  for  this  effort  was  found  in  the  unfortunate 
social  and  economic  conditions,  and  especially  in  the  lack  of 
opportunity  for  progressive  work.  "After  several  years  spent  in 
the  market "  the  girl  was  found  to  be  little  better  off  than  on 
her  entrance  into  industrial  life. 

After  investigation,  trades  were  selected  in  which  are  used  the 
sewing  machine  (foot  and  electric  power),  the  paint  brush,  paste 
brush,  and  needle.  In  organizing  instruction  all  unnecessary  waste 
was  eliminated ;  short,  intensive  courses  were  planned  to  give 
knowledge  and  skill  in  the  technical  aspects  of  the  selected  trade, 
and  to  develop  mental  alertness  on  the  part  of  the  worker.  It  has 


SPECIALIZED  AND  GENERAL  EDUCATION     137 

been  observed  that  "  the  academic  dullness  which  is  shown  at 
entrance  comes  frequently  from  lack  of  motive  in  former  studies." 
The  fundamental  importance  of  health  and  the  value  of  trade  art 
as  a  help  to  progress  are  given  special  emphasis. 

The  supreme  value  of  the  school's  trade-order  business,  as  an 
educational  asset,  is  shown  in  the  following  quotation : 

It  provides  the  student  with  adequate  experience  on  classes  of  ma- 
terial used  in  the  best  workrooms :  these  girls  could  not  purchase  such 
materials  and  the  school  could  not  afford  to  buy  them  for  practice.  The 
ordinary  conditions  in  both  the  wholesale  and  the  custom  trade  are 
thus  made  a  fundamental  part  of  instruction.  Reality  of  this  kind  helps 
the  supervisor  to  judge  the  product  from  its  trade  value,  and  the  teach- 
ing from  the  kind  of  workers  turned  out.  Through  the  business  relation 
the  student  quickly  feels  the  necessity  of  good  finish,  rapid  work,  and 
responsibility  to  deliver  on  time.  The  businesslike  appearance  of  the 
shop  at  work  on  the  orders,  and  the  experience  trade  has  had  with 
the  product,  have  increased  the  confidence  of  employers  of  labor 
in  the  ability  of  the  school  to  train  practical  workers  for  the  trades.  .  .  . 
The  business  organization  and  management  required  in  the  adequate 
conduct  of  a  large  order  department  can  itself  be  utilized  for  educa- 
tional purposes. 

A  chapter  devoted  to  representative  problems  makes  an  illu- 
minating analysis  of  the  difficulties  which  must  be  met  and 
solved  by  those  organizing  schools  for  workers  in  the  lower 
grades  of  industry.  While  the  instruction  must  be  direct  and 
specific,  some  preliminary  general  training  is  needed,  and  work  in- 
tended to  awaken  vocational  interests  should  also  be  provided. 
Mrs.  Woolman  believes  that  all  this  might  and  should  be  given 
in  the  public  elementary  school.  Other  difficulties  are  the  keeping 
of  the  school  organization  flexible  and  sensitive  to  ever-changing 
trade  conditions,  and  in  "  close  contact  with  industrial  and  social 
organizations  of  workers  in  settlements,  clubs,  societies,  and 
unions,  that  all  phases  of  the  wage  earner's  life  —  pleasures,  aims, 
and  needs  —  may  be  appreciated."  There-  is  the  difficulty  of 
securing  suitable  teachers,  and  of  working  in  harmony  with  the 
ideals  of  organized  lulx^.1 

1  Frank  M.  I.cavitt,  Kxamplcs  of  Industrial  Kducation,  pp.  14-)- 151. 
Ginn  and  Company,  1912. 


138     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

PRACTICAL  APPLICATIONS  AS  PARTS  OF  ACADEMIC 
COURSES 

The  effect  of  these  experiments  in  vocational  education  is 
clearly  discernible  in  the  traditional  courses.  Reading  books 
are  beginning  to  include  extracts  which  deal  with  practical 
matters.  Mathematics  textbooks  are  presenting  more  than 
ever  before  practical  problems  drawn  from  commercial, 
trade,  and  agricultural  life.  Science,  both  in  elementary  and 
advanced  forms,  is  turning  to  practical  applications.  In 
short,  there  is  going  on  a  kind  of  intellectual  compromise 
which  will  eventually  make  training  in  skill  an  accepted 
part  of  a  general  training. 

General  training  has  until  recently  been  so  proud  of  itself 
that  it  has  not  willingly  accepted  association  with  courses 
designed  to  cultivate  skill.  The  result  is  that  the  common 
man  has  gained  the  impression  that  there  is  a  wide  gulf 
fixed  between  general  education  and  practical  life.  One 
hopeful  symptom  of  the  present  situation  is  that  discussions 
of  general  education  are  becoming  very  much  more  demo- 
cratic. To  be  sure,  there  are  examples  of  the  proud 
exclusiveness  of  former  days  still  to  be  found  in  the  writ- 
ings of  those  who  do  not  understand  the  reach  of  modern 
reforms  in  the  curriculum,  but  these  cases  are  likely  to 
become  fewer  as  the  years  pass.  In  the  meantime  the 
practical  world  is  making  long  strides  in  the  direction  of 
an  appreciation  of  the  value  of  a  general  education.  The 
shop  mechanic  should  read.  He  should  be  independent  in 
his  cultivation  of  contact  with  the  most  recent  movements 
in  his  trade.  The  teacher  who  teaches  reading  is  coming 
to  recognize  this  as  clearly  as  does  the  employer,  and  very 
shortly  the  idea  that  reading  is  an  artificial  somewhat,  culti- 
vated exclusively  for  purely  intellectual  reasons,  will  give 
way  to  the  broader  view  that  even  the  artisan  gains  in 
efficiency  by  reading. 


SPECIALIZED  AND  GENERAL  EDUCATION     139 

When  that  time  comes  there  will  be  no  room  for  the 
theory  that  there  should  be  a  different  school  for  the  trades- 
man and  the  professional  class.  There  will  be  differentiation 
within  the  courses.  There  will  be  an  elective  opportunity 
for  each  pupil  which  will  adapt  the  curriculum  to  his  special 
needs,  but  there  will  be  no  industrial  school  on  the  other 
side  of  the  street,  with  a  separate  course,  a  different  kind 
of  teacher,  and  a  different  governing  board.  Such  a  cleav- 
age of  social  interests  would  be  disastrous  to  the  academic 
subjects  quite  as  much  as  to  the  practical  subjects.  Academic 
life  cannot  bury  itself  in  the  past ;  it  must  make  its  contri- 
bution to  the  activities  of  the  present. 

STUDIES  OF  SOCIAL  ACTIVITIES 

Nowhere  is  the  future  more  clearly  forecast  than  in  the 
new  lessons  which  are  being  introduced  into  both  the  ele- 
mentary schools  and  the  high  schools  for  the  purpose  of 
teaching  social  organization.  Under  the  title  "community 
civics  "  or  "  lessons  in  community  and  national  life  "  the 
social  sciences  are  beginning  to  offer  to  the  lower  schools 
an  exposition  of  the  life  of  the  people  who  make  up  society. 
These  courses,  like  all  new  applicants  for  admission  to  the 
crowded  curriculum,  are  finding  some  difficulty  in  making 
their  way  into  the  school.  In  spite  of  these  handicaps  the 
movement  toward  the  introduction  of  social  studies  into  the 
general  school  is  now  sufficiently  under  way  to  be  described 
as  one  of  the  most  hopeful  innovations  in  the  curriculum. 

EXERCISES  AND   READINGS 

What  would  be  the  effect  on  a  community  of  putting  different 
social  classes  of  children  into  different  schools?  Is  this  done  in 
any  degree  ?  Is  the  principle  involved  in  such  a  suggestion  different 
in  its  essentials  from  the  elective  system  ? 

What  classes  of  students  elect  commercial  courses  ?  If  a  school 
were  set  up  which  taught  exclusively  commercial  courses,  would 


140     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

the  attitude  of  teachers  and  students  toward  their  work  be  better 
than  in  a  school  which  gives  general  academic  courses  also  ? 

Should  agriculture  be  taught  in  city  high  schools  ?  It  is  some- 
times argued  that  the  country  school  should  have  a  course  of  study 
different  from  that  given  in  the  city  school.  Does  the  argument 
touch  spelling  ?  arithmetic  ?  drawing  ? 

The  part-time  experiment  has  failed  in  a  number  of  cases  where 
the  correlator  is  not  appointed.  Can  you  see  why  ? 

At  what  age  should  trade  training  begin  ?  Connect  this  discus- 
sion with  the  earlier  discussions  of  (a)  compulsory  education  and 
(fy  costs. 

Is  reading  a  practical  subject  ?  Is  science  a  natural  and  desir- 
able part  of  a  trade  course  ?  The  Federal  government  has  appro- 
priated money  for  trade  training.  Can  any  part  of  this  money 
reasonably  be  spent  in  teaching  arithmetic  ?  history  ?  literature  ? 

FARRIXGTOX,  F.  E.  Commercial  Education  in  Germany.  The  Mac- 
millan  Company.  A  book  dealing  with  one  phase  of  the  matter. 

ROM  AX,  F.  W.  The  Industrial  and  Commercial  Schools  of  the  United 
States  and  Germany.  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.  An  interesting  com- 
parison of  the  provisions  made  in  Germany  for  trade  education  with 
various  American  efforts  in  the  same  direction. 

Eleventh  Yearbook  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Educa- 
tion. Part  I,  1912,  Industrial  Education.  Public  School  Publishing 
Company,  Bloomington,  Illinois. 

Eleventh  Yearbook  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Educa- 
tion. Part  II,  1912,  Agricultural  Education  in  Secondary  Schools. 
Public  School  Publishing  Company,  Bloomington,  Illinois. 

Lessons  in  Community  and  National  Life.  Published  in  24  numbers 
(October,  1917,  to  May,  1918)  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Education. 


CHAPTER  X 

EXTENSION  OF  SCHOOL  ACTIVITIES 
A  GENERAL  SOCIAL  MOVEMENT 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  treat  the  innovations  in  the 
course  of  study  which  were  discussed  in  the  last  chapter  as 
concessions  to  a  narrow  demand  for  mere  gain  through  the 
better  training  of  workmen.  To  be  sure,  there  are  some 
who  would  be  willing  to  curtail  the  educational  opportunity 
of  the  common  people  in  order  to  insure  that  type  of  con- 
tentment which  is  supposed  to  dwell  in  the  mind  untrained 
in  higher  ideas.  But  these  are  fortunately  not  likely  to 
succeed  in  their  plans.  The  movement  for  a  better  indus- 
trial training  is  part  of  a  larger  movement  for  a  broader 
social  and  economic  life  for  all.  The  important  fact  about 
the  whole  movement  is  that  changes  within  the  school 
parallel  a  general  effort  to  deal  with  all  the  problems  of 
modern  life  as  problems  of  popular  education. 

No  exhaustive  study  of  educational  extension  can  be 
undertaken  in  the  short  compass  of  a  single  chapter.  In- 
deed, there  is  hardly  more  than  space  to  enumerate  the  types 
of  activity  which  enter  into  this  movement.  Confining  our- 
selves, then,  to  this  very  modest  effort,  the  following  out- 
line will  serve  as  a  rough  classification  of  the  major  phases 
of  the  school-extension  movement. 

First,  there  are  activities  of  pupils  which  lie  outside  the 
school  but  are  systematized  and  promoted  through  the 
supervision  of  the  school.  Second,  there  are  organized 
efforts  to  supplement  and  enlarge  school  work  by  adding  to 
the  opportunities  offered  to  pupils  out  of  school  hours  or 

Mi 


142     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

during  vacations.  Third,  there  are  continuation  courses 
offered  in  the  schools  for  adults  who  have  been  limited  in 
their  educational  opportunities.  Fourth,  there  are  various 
forms  of  educational  propaganda  through  which  communi- 
ties are  to  be  brought  to  a  more  satisfactory  economic  or 
social  status.  Fifth,  there  are  legitimate  and  refined  forms 
of  entertainment,  some  intellectual  and  some  purely  social, 
which  are  provided  at  public  expense  either  in  the  school 
building  or  in  other  meeting  places.  Some  of  these  social 
activities  are  directed  toward  the  cultivation  of  a  direct  in- 
terest in  the  schools ;  some  have  no  special  relation  to 
schools.  Sixth,  there  is  at  present  a  great  movement  for  the 
spread  of  education  through  correspondence  schools. 

Following  this  outline,  concrete  examples  of  each  type  of 
activity  may  be  briefly  described. 

CREDIT  FOR  HOME  ACTIVITIES 

First,  the  extension  of  school  supervision  is  illustrated  by 
the  fact  that  in  a  township  high  school  the  girls  who  are 
taking  cooking  are  required  to  do  each  day  a  certain  amount 
of  laboratory  work  in  the  kitchen  at  home.  This  is  reported 
by  the  parents,  and  the  cooking  teacher  visits  the  homes 
from  time  to  time  to  inspect  the  work.  Again,  in  many 
a'gricultural  schools  home  gardening  is  required  as  a  part  of 
the  course.  Sometimes  a  school  officer  is  employed  to  keep 
up  the  supervision  of  this  home  work  during  the  vacation 
period.  Another  series  of  examples  under  this  heading  is 
to  be  found  in  those  systems  where  miscellaneous  home 
activities  are  credited  by  the  school  on  the  report  of  parents. 
The  following  quotation  taken  from  Superintendent  Alder- 
man's book  on  home  credits  shows  how  far  the  matter  has 
been  carried  in  some  quarters : 


EXTENSION  OF  SCHOOL  ACTIVITIES         143 
Below  is  the  Spokane  County  plan. 

BULLETIN  FOR  TEACHERS:   HOME  CREDITS 

The  following  are  the  rules  and  reward  offered  for  home  work. 
This  work  is  to  be  done  during  the  school  week.  No  one  is  com- 
pelled to  enter  this  contest,  and  the  pupil  may  drop  out  at  any  time. 

All  work  must  be  voluntary  on  the  part  of  the  pupil.  Parents 
are  requested  not  to  sign  papers  for  pupils  if  the  work  is  not 
voluntarily  and  cheerfully  done. 

The  rewards  for  this  work  are : 

One  half-holiday  each  month  to  the  child  who  has  earned  one 
hundred  or  more  home  credits,  and  has  not  been  absent  or  tardy 
for  the  month ;  also  5  per  cent  will  be  added  to  his  final  examina- 
tion. The  pupil  who  earns  one  hundred  or  more  credits  each 
month  but  fails  in  perfect  attendance  will  have  the  5  per  cent 
added  to  his  final  examination. 

In  addition,  the  board  of  directors  may  offer  a  prize  to  the 
pupil  in  each  grade  who  shall  have  the  greatest  amount  of  home 
credits,  and  shall  be  neither  absent  nor  tardy  during  the  term,  or 
from  the  adoption  of  these  rules. 

r  LIST  OF  HOME  CREDITS 

Personal  cleanliness  ....  2  Retiring  before  9  o'clock    .     . 

Cleaning  teeth I  Feeding  and  watering  chickens 

Cleaning  finger  nails      .     .     .  i  Feeding  and  watering  horses  . 

Practicing  music  lesson  ...  2  Feeding  and  watering  cows 

Dressing  baby i  Feeding  and  watering  hogs 

Washing  dishes i  Gathering  eggs 

Sweeping  floor i  Cleaning  chicken  house 

Making  bed i  Going  for  mail 

Preparing  meal 2  Picking  apples 

Making  a  cake i  Picking  potatoes 

Making  biscuits I  Bringing  in  wood  for  to-day    . 

Churning 2  Splitting  wood  for  to-day    .     . 

Scrubbing  floor     ...  2  Bringing  in  water  for  to-day    . 

Dusting i  Grooming  horse 

Blacking  stove i  Milking  cow 

Darning  stockings     .     .     .     .  i  Working  in  field 2 

Delivering  papers      ....  2  Going  for  milk i 

E.  G.   Mi  FARI.AND, 
County  Superintendent  of  Schools. 


144     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

The  following  statement  is  made  by  Superintendent  McFarland 
as  to  the  effect  home  credits  had  on  attendance  in  1913-1914: 

We  attribute  the  increase  in  our  attendance  this  year  in  the  schools 
of  Spokane  County,  outside  the  city  of  Spokane,  largely  to  the  Home 
Credit  System  and  our  certificates  for  perfect  attendance.  While  the 
enrollment  was  108  less  than  last  year,  yet  our  attendance  was  16,712 
days  more.  At  the  present  rate  of  1 6  cents  per  day,  the  pupils  earned 
for  the  county,  from  the  State  appropriation,  nearly  $2700  more  than 
last  year.  With  the  same  enrollment  as  last  year  the  increase  of  appor- 
tionment would  have  reached  approximately  $6000. 

The  credit  slip  for  the  school  week  provides  for  a  daily  record 
of  "  chores  or  work  done  "  from  Monday  to  Friday  inclusive.  It 
does  not  contain  a  stated  list  of  duties ;  the  blanks  are  to  be  filled 
in  by  the  child.  The  list  of  home  credits  is  furnished  each  district, 
but  the  teacher  uses  her  judgment  in  allowing  credit  for  any  chore 
peculiar  to  her  locality.1 

In  Greeley,  Colorado,  the  high  school  gives  credits  for 
courses  taken  in  the  Sunday  schools.  The  teachers,  under 
this  plan,  must  be  approved  by  the  school  authorities  and 
the  work  must  be  graded.  In  many  schools  credit  is  given 
for  music  taken  at  home.  Sometimes  the  results  of  this 
instruction  are  examined,  sometimes  not.  In  the  latter 
cases  teachers  are  sometimes  approved  by  the  school  and 
their  work  then  accepted  without  further  question. 

RELATION  OF  HOME  WORK  TO  TRADITIONAL  SCHOOL  WORK 

All  these  examples  make  it  clear  that  the  school  organ- 
ization is  being  used  to  systematize  activities  which  without 
school  credits  are  carried  on  very  irregularly.  The  supervi- 
sion of  the  school  is  undoubtedly  of  advantage  to  the  activi- 
ties. Is  the  draft  made  on  the  supervisory  energy  of  the 
school  legitimate  ?  The  answer  to  this  question  is,  in  some 
cases,  undoubtedly  no.  Thus,  if  the  school  is  not  supplied 

1  L.  R.  Alderman,  School  Credit  for  Home  Work,  pp.  89-91.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Company,  1915. 


EXTENSION  OF  SCHOOL  ACTIVITIES          145 

by  the  public  with  supervisory  energy  beyond  that  commonly 
devoted  to  the  routine  of  ordinary  school  work,  it  is  difficult  to 
manage  without  distraction  some  of  these  new  kinds  of  credits. 
Again,  if  outside  activities  are  allowed  to  take  the  place 
of  regular  school  courses,  the  dangers  become  even  more 
apparent.  The  advocates  of  the  home  credit  system  assert 
that  the  drawbacks  are  slight  and  offer  examples  to  show  that 
there  is  no  conflict,  but  rather  help  for  the  school  work. 

A  boy  in  one  of  the  Portland,  Oregon,  schools  had  trouble  with 
his  spelling,  getting  a  mark  of  only  4^  on  a  scale  of  10.  Soon 
after  home  credits  were  put  into  use  by  his  teacher  he  came  to  her 
and  anxiously  inquired  if  he  could  help  out  his  spelling  grade  with 
a  good  home  record.  The  teacher  graciously  assured  him  that  he 
could.  The  boy  brought  in  each  week  one  of  the  very  best  home 
record  slips,  and  in  some  mysterious  manner  his  spelling  improved 
as  his  hours  of  work  increased.  He  does  not  need  his  home  record 
to  help  out  his  spelling  grade  now,  for  last  month  he  received  more 
than  a  passing  mark,  7^-,  in  his  weak  subject.  The  knowledge  that 
there  was  help  at  hand  relieved  his  nervousness,  and  gave  him 
confidence.1 

AFTER-SCHOOL  CLASSES  AND  VACATION  CLASSES 

The  second  type  of  extension  to  be  noted  is  that  which 
adds  to  the  regular  school  work  by  giving  supervised  oppor- 
tunity outside  the  ordinary  curriculum. 

One  example  is  that  of  a  high  school  which  tried  the 
experiment  of  requiring  manual  training.  The  students 
grumbled  a  good  deal  about  the  course  because  it  was  so 
different  from  their  other  work.  The  course  was  abandoned. 
In  its  place  was  opened  a  voluntary  class  after  school  hours 
to  which  only  students  who  secured  a  high  grade  in  their 
regular  work  were  admitted.  There  was  a  larger  demand 
for  the  course  than  the  shop  could  satisfy. 

1  I..  R.  Alderman,  School  Credit  for  Home  NVork.  pp.  32-33.  Houghton 
Mi  Mm  Company, 


146     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

Vacation  schools  are  often  supported  by  groups  of  citizens 
interested  in  providing  for  pupils  who  have  to  remain  in 
the  city  during  vacation  and  have  no  suitable  employment 
or  recreation  to  keep  them  off  the  streets.  So  valuable  is 
this  addition  to  school  work  that  it  is  very  often  taken  over 
by  the  school  system. 

A  great  deal  of  school  gardening  is  being  encouraged  by 
finding  vacant  lots  or  providing  land  in  unsettled  districts. 
School  supervision  sometimes  cannot  be  extended  to  cover 
this  work.  This  movement  has  been  evolved  during  the 
recent  campaign  for  food  cultivation  and  conservation  into 
a  general  social  movement. 

Athletics  are  sometimes  organized  under  school  supervi- 
sion ;  sometimes  only  advisory  help  is  furnished  by  the 
schools.  The  playground  is  opened  to  pupils  after  school 
hours  or  a  special  playground  is  provided.  The  matter  of 
supervised  play  is  important  enough  to  justify  a  full  discus- 
sion in  a  later  chapter. 

Some  schools  are  providing  moving-picture  exhibitions 
out  of  hours  for  the  pupils.  The  experiment  has  been  suc- 
cessfully carried  out  by  charging  enough  for  such  entertain- 
ments to  pay  their  cost,  the  school  thus  furnishing  only  the 
place  and  the  organization. 

All  these  examples  show  that  there  is  an  unused  margin 
of  time  and  energy  which  pupils  will  use  somewhere.  Espe- 
cially in  cities  it  becomes  a  serious  problem  to  insure  whole- 
some conditions  for  the  use  of  this  surplus.  If  the  pupils 
need  further  opportunities  and  the  schools  can  provide  them, 
it  is  certainly  legitimate  to  carry  out  such  plans.  To  be  really 
educational  all  these  activities  need  supervision.  Supervi- 
sion, of  course,  means  either  more  expenditure  of  money  to 
secure  additional  supervisors  or  an  increased  demand  on 
the  energies  of  present  school  officers.  The  present  provi- 
sion for  instruction  and  supervision  is  seldom  excessive. 
Expansion,  therefore,  ought  to  be  faced  as  a  new  demand. 


EXTENSION  OF  SCHOOL  ACTIVITIES         147 

CONTINUATION  CLASSES  FOR  ADULTS 

Continuation  courses  for  adults  are  intended  to  carry  on 
the  schooling  of  people  who  for  some  reason  or  other  have 
found  it  necessary  to  stop  ordinary  school  work.  In  many 
cases  continuation  classes  are  conducted  at  night  in  what  is 
commonly  known  as  night  school.  Here  there  are  two  types 
of  courses,  one  designed  to  give  training  in  the  conventional 
academic  subjects,  the  other  to  give  greater  efficiency  in  the 
practical  occupational  life  of  the  student.  As  an  example  of 
general  courses  not  connected  with  industries  we  may  cite 
the  special  courses  for  immigrants  which  have  of  late  been 
matters  of  an  especially  urgent  campaign  by  the  Bureau  of 
Education,  as  indicated  in  the  following  paragraphs  from 
a  paper  by  Mr.  Wheaton,  the  specialist  on  immigration  in 
the  bureau : 

Education,  however,  is  the  most  potent  force  toward  inculcating 
American  ideals  and  impulses.  The  English  language  and  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  civic  forces  of  the  country  are  indispensable  to  the  alien 
in  adjusting  himself  to  America.  Through  our  common  speech 
comes  understanding.  Without  it  the  pages  of  our  newspapers  are 
meaningless  and  ordinary  matters  of  business  with  Americans  must 
be  transacted  through  the  medium  of  an  interpreter.  Only  by  over- 
coming inability  to  speak  English,  by  eliminating  illiteracy  among 
aliens,  and  by  instilling  the  ideals,  attitudes,  and  habits  of  thought 
of  America,  can  we  hope  to  make  real  American  citizens  of  the 
strangers  within  our  gates.  .  .  . 

The  education  of  children  of  immigrants  in  the  day  schools  has 
always  been  considered  a  primary  and  essential  function  of  the 
school  system.  But  the  training  of  adults  in  English  and  civics  has 
not  been  generally  so  considered.  Evening  schools,  through  which 
only  can  adults  be  reached  effectively,  have  usually  been  regarded 
merely  as  adjuncts  to  the  day-school  system,  and  hence  are  main- 
tained when  funds  can  be  spared  or  eked  out.  Adequate  facilities 
for  the  adult  arc  rarely  organized  and  maintained  as  an  organic 
part  of  the  educational  system  with  a  specific  appropriation  and 


148     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

unified  supervision.  In  fact,  education  of  immigrants  has  been  left 
too  largely  to  the  well-intentioned  but  sporadic  interest  and  effort 
of  private  organizations  and  individuals.  The  provision  of  public 
facilities  may,  therefore,  be  treated  at  present  and  for  some  time  to 
come  as  a  legitimate  extension  activity  for  educational  systems. 

It  is  with  this  latter  conception  in  mind  that  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Education  has  for  a  considerable  period  been  actively 
engaged  in  promoting  the  extension  of  facilities  for  the  education 
of  immigrants  over  the  compulsory  attendance  age.  Authority  to 
undertake  this  extensive  program  is  derived  from  the  organic  act 
creating  the  bureau  in  1867  and  from  various  acts  of  Congress 
making  appropriations  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  industrial  and 
vocational  training,  the  elimination  of  illiteracy,  and  the  cause  of 
education  generally.1 

The  industrial  phase  of  continuation  education  was  noted 
in  the  discussions  of  the  last  chapter.  It  remains  only  to 
add  that  the  industrial  courses  for  adults  have  done  much 
to  make  available  for  mature  workers  the  kind  of  training 
which  the  school  is  now  beginning  to  give  to  children. 

Continuation  classes  are  often  provided  by  organizations 
outside  of  the  schools,  such  as  the  Christian  associations 
for  young  men  and  women,  and  labor  unions,  and  through 
private  endowment. 

DEMONSTRATIONS  AS  MEANS  OF  ECONOMIC  AND 
SOCIAL  IMPROVEMENT 

The  fourth  type  of  educational  activity  may  be  described 
as  educational  propaganda.  The  Federal  government,  espe- 
cially through  its  Department  of  Agriculture,  has  promoted 
scientific  farming  where  there  was  no  initial  impulse  on  the 
part  of  farmers  to  go  to  school.  This  work  was  supported, 
especially  in  the  Southern  States,  by  the  General  Education 

1  H.  H.  Wheaton,  "The  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  and  the 
Immigrant."  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social 
Science,  Vol.  LXVII,  No.  156  (September,  1916),  pp.  273-274. 


EXTENSION  OF  SCHOOL  ACTIVITIES         149 

Board.  It  sometimes  took  the  form  of  an  appeal  to  the 
boys  and  girls  as  well  as  to  adults.  A  typical  case  is  set 
forth  in  the  first  report  of  the  General  Education  Board. 

A  club  consists  essentially  of  a  group  of  boys  varying  in  number 
from  twenty-five  to  one  hundred,  and  ranging  in  age  from  ten  to 
eighteen.  Corn  and  cotton  are  both  cultivated,  but  corn  is  pre- 
ferred :  first,  because  the  South  needs  more  corn ;  secondly,  be- 
cause corn  lends  itself  better  to  study  and  selection.  As  a  rule, 
each  member  works  a  plot  of  one  acre.  The  county  superintendent 
of  education  is  usually  in  charge.  .  .  . 

Driving  through  Macon  County,  Alabama,  not  long  ago,  two 
strangers  observed,  in  a  large  field  of  ordinary  corn,  a  patch  stand- 
ing out  like  a  miniature  skyscraper.  They  dismounted  to  interview 
the  owner.  A  Negro  boy  approached. 

"  Is  this  your  corn  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  How  did  you  come  to  grow  it  ? " 

"  One  of  Dr.  Knapp's  men  showed  me,  sir." 

"  Why  did  you  plant  it  so  far  apart  in  the  rows  ? " 

"  Because,  sir,  most  all  that  grows  comes  from  the  sunshine  and 
the  air." 

"  When  did  you  plow  ?  " 

"  Last  fall,  sir." 

"  Why  ? " 

"To  make  plant  food  during  the  winter." 

"  Where  did  you  get  your  fertilizer  ?  " 

"  From  the  bottom,  sir." 

"  How  many  times  did  you  cultivate  ?  " 

"  Six  times,  sir." 

"Why?" 

"  Because  there's  water  down  next  to  the  clay,  and  when  I  don't 
plow  the  sun  draws  it  all  away." 

"  When  did  you  put  in  the  cowpeas  ?  " 

"  After  the  last  plowing,  sir." 

"  What  did  you  do  that  for  ?  " 

"  Because  the  cowpeas  get  out  of  the  air  nitrogen,  and  put  back 
in  the  ground  about  as  much  as  the  corn  takes  out." 


150     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

How  many  valuable  lessons  had  this  remote  Negro  lad  learned 
from  doing  one  job  right !  But  this  is  not  the  end  of  the  story. 
His  double  crop  was  worth  $52.  From  his  pocket  he  pulled  a  dirty 
little  pass-book,  the  entries  in  which  showed  what  the  crop  had 
cost.  Reckoning  his  own  time  at  ten  cents  an  hour  and  his  father's 
mule  at  a  dollar  a  day,  he  netted  a  profit  of  $30  to  the  acre.  His 
younger  sister,  it  appeared,  had  had  an  equally  profitable  quarter 
of  an  acre  in  cotton.  Three  years  later  both  were  students  at 
Tuskegee,  paying  for  their  education  with  the  money  earned  as 
club  workers.1 

Equally  impressive  examples  could  be  supplied  of  trans- 
formations in  homes  brought  about  by  demonstrations  in 
cooking,  house  decoration,  and  costume  design  given  by 
teachers  of  domestic  science  and  household  art. 


ENTERTAINMENT  AS  PART  OF  THE  EDUCATIONAL 
PROGRAM 

The  problem  of  providing  proper  entertainment  for  people 
in  the  city  and  proper  places  for  the  coming  together  of 
social  groups  in  country  and  city  communities  is  one  of  the 
serious  problems  of  modern  life.  The  church  serves  less 
than  it  used  to  the  purposes  of  a  meeting  place  for  the 
community.  The  schools  have  been  called  on  to  help  solve 
this  problem.  The  extent  to  which  the  demand  exists  is 
illustrated  by  the  following  quotation  from  the  Cleveland 
survey  2 : 

According  to  the  custodians'  reports  the  total  after-class  lettings 
of  school  accommodations  during  1914-15  numbered  3,469.  Of 
these,  462  were  for  mothers'  club  meetings,  class  dances,  pupil 

1  The  General  Education  Board :  An  Account  of  its  Activities,  1902- 
1914,  pp.  58,  61-62.    New  York  City,  1915. 

2  Clarence  Arthur  Perry,  Educational  Extension,  pp.  82—85.    Cleveland 
Education  Survey.    Published  by  the  Survey  Committee  of  the  Cleveland 
Foundation,  1916. 


EXTENSION  OF  SCHOOL  ACTIVITIES          151 

society  meetings,  pay  entertainments,  bazaars,  or  some  other  kind 
of  purely  school  function  and  3,007  were  lettings  to  outside  organ- 
izations. A  large  part  of  the  latter  consisted  of  clubs  or  Sunday- 
school  classes  connected  with  some  27  different  churches  which, 
along  with  two  dozen  or  more  specifically  named  athletic  societies, 
sought  the  use  of  school  gymnasiums  and  showers  for  basketball 
and  similar  indoor  games.  The  varied  character  of  the  bodies  which 
hired  the  auditoriums,  club  and  class-rooms  can  best  be  discovered 
from  a  perusal  of  the  following  partial  but  representative  list. 

GROUPS  USING  SCHOOL  ACCOMMODATIONS 

Twentieth  Ward  Improvement  Association  D.  A.  R.  Clubs 

East  End  Chamber  of  Commerce  G.  A.  R.  Post 

East  End  Neighborhood  Club  Normal  Alumni 

Women's  Suffrage  Political  League  Alumni  Club 

Municipal  School  League  Sanitation  Club 

Spanish  War  Veterans  Civic  League 

Ladies'  Relief  Corps  Boy  Scouts 

Knights  of  Pythias  Lodge  Boy  Cadets 

Public  School  Association  Camp  Fire  Girls 

Garment  Workers'  Union  Y.  W.  C.  A. 

Warner  Civic  Association  Mothers'  Club 

Social  Center  Club  Anti-Fly  Campaign 

Teachers'  and  Mothers'  Club  Boys'  Chef  Club 

Western  Reserve  Dental  Club  Patrons'  Club 

Thespian  Dramatic  Club  Social  Club 

South  End  Choral  Society  German  Club 

Mendelssohn  Choir  Latin  Club 

Boys'  Glee  Club  Syrian  Club 

These  names  show  concretely  what  a  wide  range  of  Cleveland's 
social  elements  are  nowadays  seeking  the  kind  of  facilities  which  a 
modern  school  edifice  possesses.  In  the  majority  of  cases  these 
groups  were  obliged  to  pay  custodians'  fees  ranging  from  30  cents 
to  $5.00  an  evening  depending  on  the  size  of  the  quarters  used. 
That  fact  attests  the  genuineness  of  this  demand  and  its  vigor  is 
further  evidenced  by  the  rapid  growth  in  volume  which,  as  shown 
in  the  following  table,  has  practically  doubled  during  the  past 
two  years. 


152     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 


GROWTH  OF  AFTER-SCHOOL  USE  OF  SCHOOL  FACILITIES 
BY  NEIGHBORHOOD  ORGANIZATIONS 


1913-1914 

1914-1915 

PER  CENT 
INCREASE 

Organizations  using  buildings  
Total  lettings  

298 
I.Q72 

596 

•2,007 

IOO 
16 

Fees  paid  to  custodians  by  organizations 
Aggregate  attendance  

$1,729.91 
I2O,5I  I 

52,813.55 
276,2  Si 

62 
I  2Q 

ASSOCIATIONS  AIMED  DIRECTLY  AT  THE  IMPROVEMENT  OF 

SCHOOLS 

A  social  organization  which  is  of  special  importance  to  the 
schools  is  the  parent-teachers'  association,  which  is  coming  to 
be  a  common  adjunct  of  every  school.  Such  an  association 
often  helps  the  school  to  secure  equipment  which  it  needs, 
and  furnishes  a  useful  avenue  for  the  dissemination  of  ideas 
with  regard  to  school  policies.  Sometimes  the  school  officer 
finds  that  the  proper  relation  of  the  association  to  school 
administration  needs  definition.  He  then  falls  back  with 
satisfaction  on  the  words  of  a  recent  writer  in  the  Atlantic : 

Running  a  school  or  a  class  is  a  technical  or  expert  job.  It 
cannot  as  a  rule  be  done  by  an  untrained  person ;  and  untrained 
people,  seeking  to  break  in,  are  likely  to  do  more  harm  than  good. 
The  school  situation,  indeed,  resembles  the  situation  in  medicine 
fifty  years  ago.  The  practice  of  medicine  at  that  time  was  atro- 
cious ;  but  it  had  to  be  improved,  and  it  was  improved  by  doctors, 
not  by  laymen.  I  shall  not  spare  the  schools ;  but  schools  must 
be  improved  by  schoolmen  —  and  they  will  be. 

We  have  then  reached  this  point.  Intelligent  parents  wish  to 
have  a  say  in  the  education  of  their  children.  But  schools  must 
be  conducted  by  trained  persons.  The  training  of  these  persons 
is,  however,  largely  antiquated.  Are  we  not  deadlocked  ? 

I  think  not.  Parents  cannot  tell  teachers  what  to  do  or  how  to 
do  it.  But  what  they  can  do  is  to  ask  questions.  They  can,  like 


EXTENSION  OF  SCHOOL  ACTIVITIES          153 

the  man  from  Missouri,  require  "  to  be  shown."  At  first  blush,  this 
may  not  look  like  very  much.  But  if  my  readers  will  bear  with 
me  for  a  moment,  perhaps  they  will  see  that  the  right  and  the 
duty  of  asking  "to  be  shown,"  of  asking  persistently  and  continu- 
ously "  Why  ?  "  "  Why  ?  "  gives  parents  all  the  leverage  they  need 
or  can  use  in  making  over  the  education  of  their  children. 

Our  schools  could  not  be  perfect.  I  won't  even  stop  to  argue 
that  they  can  all  at  a  bound  make  themselves  much  better  than 
they  are.  Parents  cannot  possibly  make  many  practicable  sug- 
gestions by  way  of  improving  them.  But  just  because  we  all 
know  so  little,  just  because  schoolmasters  are  so  hampered  by 
tradition  and  organization,  just  because  parents  are  so  helpless  in 
making  practicable  suggestions,  for  these  very  reasons  the  com- 
placent following  of  traditions  is  the  most  inexcusable  of  attitudes. 
The  schools  which  are  now  too  conventional,  too  complacent,  too 
free  from  deep-seated  and  unhappy  doubts,  should  be  tentative, 
inquiring,  investigating,  skeptical  in  their  point  of  view.  They  will 
be  assisted  in  becoming  tentative,  inquiring,  skeptical,  and  experi- 
mental if  parents  will,  year  after  year,  make  them  tell  why,  make 
them  show  why.  For  when  people  are  called  on  to  show  why,  they 
begin  to  look  into  what  they  are  doing,  and  out  of  this  critical 
scrutiny  will  come  doubt,  invention,  and  finally  something  living 
in  place  of  something  long  since  dead.1 

CORRESPONDENCE  SCHOOLS 

This  discussion  has  not  included,  as  perhaps  it  should, 
university  extension,  libraries,  rural-community  organization, 
and  other  agencies.  It  must,  however,  make  reference  to 
one  popular  movement  which  has  grown  in  recent  years 
to  proportions  that  are  literally  vast.  The  correspondence 
schools  of  this  country  do  an  enormous  amount  of  more  or 
less  valuable  teaching.  The  qualifying  phrase  "  more  or  less 
valuable  "  is  justified  by  the  fact  that  many  of  the  corre- 
spondence schools  are  purely  commercial  enterprises  and 

1  Abraham  Flcxner,  "  Parents  and  Schools."  The  Atlantic  Monthly 
(July,  1916),  pp.  26-27. 


154    THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

provide  a  very  low  grade  of  courses.  The  number  of  such 
schools,  however,  shows  the  demand  for  education,  the  evi- 
dence in  this  case  being  the  stronger  when  we  recognize 
that  in  many  cases  the  quality  of  instruction  is  not  such  as 
to  encourage  the  student. 

PRINCIPLES  REQUIRED  TO  SYSTEMATIZE  EDUCATIONAL 
ACTIVITIES 

The  list  of  activities  which  carry  education  far  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  traditional  curriculum  could  be  extended. 
A  complete  list  would  include  newspapers  and  magazines 
with  their  lessons  on  health,  on  food  and  economic  problems. 
It  would  include  the  churches  and  many  social  organizations. 
The  purposes  of  the  present  exposition  have,  however,  been 
adequately  served  if  the  reader  has  been  impressed  by  the 
popular  demand  for  a  broad  educational  program. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

Complications  sometimes  arise  in  the  matter  of  credits,  not 
from  the  fact  that  they  are  given  within  a  certain  institution  but 
rather  from  the  fact  that  a  second  institution  to  which  students 
go  cannot  deal  with  the  credits.  Suppose  that  a  certain  high 
school  gives  credit  for  gardening.  Should  the  college  accept  the 
credit  toward  admission?  Is  it  legitimate  to  substitute  Sunday- 
school  courses  for  senior  English  ? 

What  would  you  want  to  know  about  a  music  teacher  before 
crediting  her  pupils  with  a  high-school  credit  in  music  ?  How 
would  you  find  out  how  much  work  the  music  pupil  had  done  ?  If 
you  think  an  examination  a  good  method,  would  you  give  credit 
for  typewriting  to  a  boy  who  learned  to  write  outside  of  school 
and  could  pass  an  examination  ? 

The  distinction  between  an  education  and  school  credits  is 
sometimes  painfully  evident.  Describe  cases  in  which  the  effort  to 
get  credits  interferes  with  school  work. 

When  a  community  is  very  enthusiastic  about  social  centers,  it 
often  asks  the  board  of  education  to  open  the  schools  at  night. 


EXTENSION  OF  SCHOOL  ACTIVITIES          155 

Should  the  board  charge  a  fee  or  give  the  use  of  the  building 
without  charge?  In  case  the  board  does  not  have  money  enough 
to  furnish  the  children  with  playground  apparatus,  should  it  give 
the  use  of  buildings  free? 

PERRY,  C.  A.  Wider  Use  of  the  School  Plant.  Russell  Sage  Founda- 
tion. This  book  treats  in  a  comprehensive  way  of  all  the  different 
types  of  outside  activity  carried  on  in  schools. 

The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science, 
September,  1916,  Vol.  67,  No.  156.  Concord,  New  Hampshire.  The 
number  is  given  over  to  a  symposium  in  which  a  number  of  authors 
give  an  account  of  the  outside  activities  which  have  in  recent  years 
been  attached  to  the  school. 


CHAPTER  XI 

PRINCIPLES  INFLUENCING  THE  ORGANIZATION 
OF  THE  CURRICULUM 

NECESSITY  OF  PRACTICAL  DECISIONS  IN  SPITE 
OF  CONFUSION 

With  the  expansions  in  education  that  have  been  reviewed 
in  foregoing  chapters,  there  has  come  a  certain  confusion 
and  uncertainty  of  practice  which  sometimes  tends  to  lower 
the  standards  of  work  in  the  school. 

Consider  a  concrete  case.  A  small  city  can  afford  to  offer 
only  a  limited  number  of  courses  in  its  high  school.  Shall 
the  choice  fall  on  Latin  or  typewriting  ?  Among  the  sciences 
shall  botany  or  chemistry  be  provided  ?  Botany  would  re- 
late itself  well  to  agriculture,  and  chemistry  would  be  a 
basis  for  domestic  science.  Sometimes  in  the  effort  to  meet 
both  demands,  weak  courses  are  tolerated,  and  teachers  are 
either  overloaded  because  they  are  called  on  to  carry  heavy 
programs  or  are  inadequately  compensated  in  the  effort  to 
provide  a  sufficient  number  to  do  all  the  work  demanded. 

Nor  is  it  the  school  alone  which  is  confronted  with  the 
necessity  of  choosing ;  the  individual  student  must  elect. 
There  is  a  high  school  in  a  small  city  in  Illinois,  as  shown 
by  the  last  report  of  the  North  Central  Association  of  Col- 
leges and  Secondary  Schools,  which  enrolled  in  1915  four 
hundred  and  sixty-one  students.  This  school  offered  twenty- 
three  units  in  academic  subjects  and  twelve  units  in  voca- 
tional subjects.  If  each  pupil  took  five  units  a  year,  which 
would  be  a  very  heavy  program,  he  would  be  able  to  com- 
plete in  four  years  only  twenty  units,  or  fifteen  less  than  the 

156 


PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  157 

school  offers.  Another  high  school  in  the  same  state  with 
an  enrollment  of  five  hundred  and  thirty-two  students  offers 
an  aggregate  of  forty-four  units. 

Finally,  there  are  choices  to  be  made  within  these  choices, 
because  after  the  decision  has  been  reached  that  botany  is 
to  be  taught,  the  teacher  must  select  from  the  abundant 
material  within  this  science  that  which  seems  most  produc- 
tive. The  student,  also,  gives  more  attention  to  one  sub- 
ject than  to  the  others  which  he  is  pursuing,  thus  exhibiting 
another  kind  of  selection. 

Choices  have  to  be  made,  and  every  choice  has  back  of 
it  some  prejudice  or  some  clearly  thought-out  principle  or 
some  experience  collected  by  the  teacher  or  pupil  through 
contact  with  earlier  educational  problems.  Our  business  in 
this  course  is,  first,  to  become  aware  of  the  chief  reasons 
for  the  choices  actually  made  in  schools,  and,  second,  to 
take  up  some  of  the  evidences  which  justify  one  or  the 
other  of  these  reasons.  The  present  chapter  will  be  devoted 
to  a  brief  statement  of  the  principles  most  commonly  urged 
as  the  basis  of  choice. 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF  DISCIPLINE 

The  historical  reason  for  training  children  which  has  come 
down  to  us  from  the  religious  traditions  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  more  directly  from  the  austere  beliefs  and  practices  of 
the  Puritans,  is  the  supposed  demand  for  a  curbing  of  the 
naturally  perverse  tendencies  of  children,  for  a  disciplining 
of  nature  into  a  higher  form  of  morality.  This  reason  has 
in  more  recent  times  been  phrased  in  new  terms.  The 
mind,  it  is  said,  must  be  made  strong  through  struggle  with 
difficulties  as  the  athlete  becomes  skillful  and  muscular 
through  training.  If  the  training  seems  for  the  time  being 
monotonous  and  overvigorous,  well  and  good ;  the  end 
justifies  the  effort.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  discipline. 


158     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

THE  DOCTRINE  OF  NATURAL  EDUCATION  IN  THE  FORM 
OF  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  FREEDOM 

Against  the  notion  of  discipline  there  has  been  matched, 
especially  in  the  last  century,  the  opposing  notion  that  all 
good  qualities  are  natural  and  will  express  themselves  freely 
if  the  artificial  restraints  of  life  are  removed.  Rousseau,  in 
his  famous  attack  on  social  conventions,  pointed  out  the 
truth  that  the  child  is  naturally  an  eager  learner.  Biology 
reinforced  Rousseau's  teachings  with  the  doctrines  of  natural 
selection  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  meaning  by  the  fittest 
those  able  to  take  on  complete  adaptation  to  the  present 
environment.  The  belief  that  nature  is  a  safe  guide  has  led 
to  the  doctrine  of  freedom  for  the  child  in  all  matters  of 
intellectual  development. 

CONCENTRATION  AND  INTEREST 

The  antithesis  between  discipline  and  freedom,  between 
training  which  aims  to  transform  the  child's  nature  and 
training  which  gives  the  child's  nature  opportunity  to  express 
itself  without  restraint,  can  be  illustrated  as  follows.  On  the 
one  side  it  is  said  that  children  have  no  power  of  concen- 
tration of  attention.  They  are  flighty  and  erratic.  They 
must  be  made  to  think  steadily  in  order  to  train  their  minds 
for  hard  mental  work.  On  the  other  side  it  is  asserted  that 
when  a  child's  interest  is  aroused  through  an  appeal  to  his 
natural  tastes  he  will  exert  his  mind  to  the  limit  of  its  powers, 
and  this  is  all  that  can  advantageously  be  required. 

POPULAR  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  DISCIPLINE 

When  the  antithesis  between  discipline  and  natural  inter- 
ests is  presented  to  the  present-day  world,  it  must  be  said 
that  there  is  a  widespread  disposition  to  set  aside  discipline 
as  arbitrary  and  puritanical.  Our  generation  is  in  favor  of 


PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  159 

natural  development.  Perhaps  it  would  be  truer  to  use  the 
past  tense  in  the  last  statement  because  the  social  attitude 
toward  discipline  has  been  profoundly  affected  by  the  war. 
Never  in  the  history  of  this  country  has  the  lesson  been 
clearer  than  it  is  at  the  present  that  social  cooperation 
means  the  training  of  the  individual  to  make  some  sacrifices. 
The  American  school  has  carried  the  elective  system  and 
its  concessions  to  individuals  to  an  extreme  which  is  likely  to 
be  limited  somewhat  in  the  future  by  a  recognition  of  social 
obligations. 

EXAMPLES  OF  DISCIPLINE  AND  FREEDOM 

It  may  be  well  to  illustrate  this  abstract  discussion  of  dis- 
cipline and  freedom  with  concrete  examples.  One  of  the 
most  emphatic  pronouncements  in  favor  of  the  doctrine  of 
freedom  is  that  of  Madam  Montessori,  an  Italian  physician 
whose  system  of  education  has  been  much  heralded  in  this 
country  as  a  substitute  for  the  kindergarten.  According  to 
this  writer's  views  the  pupil  should  have  perfect  freedom. 
The  contrast  with  the  kindergarten  is  described  as  follows 
by  one  of  the  observers  of  the  two  institutions  : 

A  contrast  between  the  Montessori  school  and  the  kindergarten 
of  the  more  formal  and  traditional  type  may  serve  to  give  a  clearer 
picture  of  the  Montessori  procedure,  and  consequently  of  the 
Montessori  conception  of  liberty  as  it  appears  in  practice.  The 
most  evident  difference  is  seen  in  the  function  of  the  teacher. 
The  kindergartner  is  clearly  the  center  and  arbiter  of  the  activity 
in  the  room.  The  Montessori  directress  seems,  on  the  contrary, 
to  be  at  one  side.  The  kindergartner  contemplates  at  each  moment 
the  whole  of  her  group ;  the  directress  is  talking  usually  to  one 
alone  —  possibly  to  two  or  three.  The  kindergarten  children  are 
engaged  in  some  sort  of  directed  group  activity ;  each  Montessori 
child  is  an  isolated  worker,  though  one  or  more  comrades  may 
look  on  and  suggest.  The  arrangement  of  the  room  shows  the 
same  contrast.  The  kindergarten  has  a  circle  about  which  all  may 


160     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

gather,  and  tables  for  group  activity.  The  Montessori  room  is 
fitted,  preferably,  with  individual  tables,  arranged  as  the  children 
will.  (In  the  writer's  observation,  there  has  been  little  deviation, 
however,  from  arrangement  in  formal  rows.)  Montessori  provides 
long  periods,  say  of  two  or  more  hours,  while  the  kindergarten 
period  rarely  goes  beyond  a  half-hour.  During  the  period  assigned 
for  that  purpose  practically  all  of  the  Montessori  apparatus  is  avail- 
able for  any  child  (except  for  the  very  youngest  or  the  newest 
comers),  and  the  child  makes  his  choice  freely.  The  kindergartner, 
on  the  other  hand,  decides  very  nicely  what  specific  apparatus 
shall  be  used  during  any  one  period.  The  Montessori  child  abides 
by  his  choice  as  long  as  he  wishes,  and  changes  as  often  as  he 
likes ;  he  may  even  do  nothing  if  he  prefers.  The  child  in  the 
traditional  kindergarten  uses  the  same  apparatus  throughout  the 
period,  and  is  frequently  led  or  directed  by  the  teacher  as  to  what 
he  shall  do.  At  other  times  he  may  be  at  liberty  to  build  or  repre- 
sent at  will  whatever  may  be  suggested  by  the  "  gift "  set  for  the 
period.  The  Montessori  child,  each  at  his  own  chosen  task,  works, 
as  stated,  in  relative  isolation,  his  nearest  neighbors  possibly 
looking  on.1 

At  the  other  end  of  the  educational  system  we  find  the 
example  of  "  stiff  "  courses  in  college  designed  to  "  weed 
out"  the  slothful  and  incompetent.  The  "stiff"  course  is 
required  mathematics,  or  a  foreign  language,  or  a  course  in 
English  composition.  Opposition  to  stiff  courses  expresses 
itself  in  the  demand  for  an  undiluted  elective  system  in 
which  the  student  may  take  whatever  serves  his  purposes. 

NATURAL  EDUCATION   AND    RECOGNITION  OF   INDIVIDUAL 
DIFFERENCES 

The  advocacy  of  a  natural  education  takes  a  different 
turn  when  it  drops  the  word  "  freedom  "  and  emphasizes 
the  fact  that  individuals  differ  radically  in  their  native 
capacities.  Some  pupils  have  an  aptitude  for  one  kind  of 

1  William  Heard  Kilpatrick,  The  Montessori  System  Examined,  pp.  14-1 5. 
Riverside  Educational  Monograph.  Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  1914. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  161 

work,  others  for  other  types.  The  school  is  to-day  com- 
mitted to  a  recognition  of  these  differences  and  to  a  study 
of  their  meaning.  There  is  a  movement  known  as  the 
vocational-guidance  movement  which  is  making  progress 
in  the  direction  of  the  discovery  of  methods  for  finding 
out  what  studies  can  properly  be  undertaken  by  students  in 
view  of  their  varying  natural  endowments.  The  individual's 
natural  bent  being  discovered,  his  educational  training  can 
be  directed  to  the  highest  possible  cultivation  of  his  powers. 
Nature  is  thus  recognized  but  is  not  made  the  dominant 
fact.  The  vocational  end  is  the  controlling  factor  in  the 
situation.  The  attainment  of  this  end  may  require  the 
most  rigid  disciplining  of  one's  powers.  The  direction  of 
this  disciplining  is  dictated  by  nature,  but  not  the  particular 
steps  of  education.  As  a  result  of  such  a  discussion  it 
begins  to  appear  that  there  is  no  fundamental  reason  for 
the  abandonment  of  the  idea  of  discipline  even  if  there  is  a 
complete  recognition  of  natural  individual  differences. 

In  concrete  cases  the  opposition  to  the  doctrine  of  disci- 
pline may,  however,  be  acute.  The  pupil  may  say  that  he 
has  absolutely  no  natural  capacity  for  algebra  or  spelling. 
The  teacher  may  answer  that  these  are  universal  require- 
ments and  that  there  is  no  escape  from  these  necessary 
studies  because  of  individual  differences.  In  such  a  dispute, 
tradition,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  wider  opportunities  of 
the  modern  curriculum,  on  the  other  hand,  are  likely  to  be 
arrayed  against  each  other.  Algebra  as  the  conservative  sub- 
ject is  likely  to  defend  the  view  that  discipline  is  necessary, 
whereas  manual  training  and  domestic  science  are  likely  to 
emphasize  the  natural  attractiveness  of  the  practical  training 
which  they  offer.  Thus  it  has  come  to  pass  that  certain  sub- 
jects, especially  the  older  subjects  in  the  curriculum,  have 
come  to  be  regarded  as  the  defenders  of  the  doctrine  of 
discipline,  while  the  newer  subjects  have  often  been  regarded 
as  opposed  by  their  very  character  to  the  doctrine. 


1 62     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

NATURAL  EDUCATION  AS  TRAINING  FOR  LIFE 

Still  another  turn  is  given  to  the  discussion  by  an 
emphasis  on  the  social  demands  of  later  life.  As  society  is 
constituted,  individual  differences  are  sure  to  play  a  large 
part  in  determining  success  or  failure.  Furthermore,  society 
as  constituted  in  its  commercial  organizations  accepts  without 
hesitation  the  principle  of  division  of  labor.  Why  should 
not  the  school  be  like  society  ?  Why  should  not  the  school 
be  a  miniature  world  with  all  the  different  types  of  life  that 
will  later  become  real  to  the  pupils  ?  Practical  needs  thus 
come  into  the  foreground. 

TRAINING  IN  THE  METHODS  OF  KNOWLEDGE  AND 
GENERAL  TRAINING 

Two  views  are  sometimes  offered  in  opposition  to  the 
doctrine  of  a  strictly  practical  training.  First,  it  is  said 
that  the  pupil  in  order  to  prepare  for  later  life  must  pass 
through  certain  forms  of  training  which  are  preliminary, 
intended  to  set  up  his  mental  machinery  before  it  begins  to 
produce  anything.  Otherwise  expressed,  it  is  said  that  the 
pupil  must  get  the  tools  of  knowledge  before  he  tries  to 
take  part  in  real  life. 

Second,  it  is  said  that  there  is  no  possibility  in  the 
complex  society  of  the  modern  world  of  foreseeing  just 
what  will  be  the  practical  needs  of  pupils  when  they  grow 
to  adult  life.  It  will  therefore  be  better,  it  is  argued,  to 
aim  at  a  broad  flexible  training  which  can  in  due  time  be 
turned  into  any  channel  that  circumstances  may  dictate. 

EXAMPLES  OF  VIEWS  ON  FORMAL  TRAINING 

The  dispute  which  is  introduced  by  these  opposing 
statements  is  one  of  the  bitterest  in  modern  educational 
writings.  Let  us  borrow  two  quotations  which  will  present 


PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  163 

the  case  in  detail.  Frank  M.  McMurry  has  given  in  his  "report 
on  the  schools  of  New  York  City  a  striking  example  of  the 
advocacy  of  direct  and  constant  attention  to  social  needs. 
In  giving  the  quotation  from  this  author  it  is  possible  to 
include  incidentally  his  description  of  an  earlier  view  of  the 
curriculum  which  emphasizes  general  training  or  methods 
of  thought  rather  than  special  content. 

PROMINENCE  OF  CURRICULUM  IN  DETERMINING 
QUALITY  OF  INSTRUCTION 

Thirty  years  ago  the  belief  was  often  expressed  that  it  made 
little  difference  what  one  studied,  but  all  the  difference  in  the 
world  with  whom  one  studied.  That  belief  made  almost  any 
curriculum  acceptable,  and  directed  attention  to  the  personality 
of  the  teacher  and  to  method  as  the  principal  factors  determining 
the  effectiveness  of  instruction. 

That  belief,  however,  has  been  greatly  modified.  While  no  one 
will  deny  the  importance  of  the  teacher's  personality,  most  per- 
sons will  admit  that  the  proper  expression  of  personality  and  skill 
in  method  are  both  greatly  dependent  upon  the  subject  matter  of 
the  curriculum.  Carefully  selected  subject  matter  is  prerequisite  to 
skill  in  method  of  presentation.  Without  a  good  curriculum  there 
is  bound  to  be  great  waste. 

BASES  FOR  JUDGING  CURRICULUM  AND  SYLLABI 
i.    Bv  RELATION*  OF  SUBJECT  MATTER  TO  CHILDREN'S  PURPOSES 

In  harmony  with  the  previous  discussion  of  standards  for  judg- 
ing the  quality  of  instruction,  as  a  whole,  the  quality  of  the  cur- 
riculum in  particular  is  to  be  determined  partly  by  its  tendency  to 
influence  the  tastes,  purposes,  and  hopes  of  children.  Any  cur- 
riculum for  the  elementary  school  should  have  its  content  selected 
from  among  those  experiences  of  mankind  that  have  seemed  most 
valuable.  That  is  to  be  presupposed.  Hut  this  selection  can  be 
indifferent  to  the  tendencies,  interests,  and  capacities  of  children  in 
general,  and  of  certain  ages  in  particular,  and  aim  only  at  present 
storage  of  facts  and  ideas  that  may  count  in  a  dim  future,  i.e., 


1 64     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

in  adult  life.  Or  it  may  be  made  with  constant  reference  to  the 
abilities,  tastes,  and  needs  of  children  at  the  present  time.  In 
the  former  case,  motive  on  the  part  of  children  is  overlooked ;  in 
the  latter  case,  the  extent  of  provision  for  it  is  accepted  as  one 
of  the  standards  by  which  the  curriculum  is  to  be  judged.  We 
represent  the  latter  point  of  view.1 

The  group  of  thinkers  to  whom  McMurry  refers  with 
disfavor  as  absorbed  in  methods  rather  than  content  has 
never  been  more  ably  represented  than  by  President 
Hadley,  extracts  from  whose  statement  are  as  follows  : 

Greek  is  an  intellectual  game  where  the  umpires  know  the  rules 
better  than  they  know  the  rules  in  the  game  of  French,  for  in- 
stance, or  history,  or  botany.  A  man's  rating  in  an  examination  on 
any  one  of  these  last  three  subjects  is  largely  the  result  of  accident 
unless  the  examiner  is  quite  unusually  skillful.  A  man's  rating  in 
Greek,  on  the  other  hand,  means  something.  There  never  were 
intellectual  competitions  keener  than  the  classical  competitions  at 
Oxford  in  the  days  when  the  best  men  in  England  wanted  their 
sons  to  learn  that  particular  game. 

Unfortunately,  a  large  number  of  the  strongest  men,  both  in 
England  and  in  the  United  States,  have  decided  that  this  game 
takes  more  time  than  it  is  worth.  Personally,  I  believe  that  this 
change  of  mind  is  in  many  respects  a  misfortune ;  that  in  trying 
to  get  more  practical  results  in  the  way  of  knowledge  or  culture  a 
great  many  American  college  boys  have  lost  the  training  which  the 
Greek  would  have  given  them  and  gained  nothing  of  equal  value 
in  its  place.  .  .  . 

It  was  a  mistake  for  the  advocates  of  the  old  curriculum  to 
think  that  all  the  students  required  the  same  treatment.  It  is,  I 
believe,  an  equal  mistake  for  the  advocates  of  the  elective  system 
to  think  that  each  student  requires  a  different  treatment.  For  while 
there  is  a  very  large  number  of  subjects  of  interest  to  study,  and 
an  almost  infinite  variety  of  occupations  which  the  students  are 
going  to  follow  afterwards,  there  is  a  comparatively  small  number 

1  Frank  M.  McMurry,  Report  on  Educational  Aspects  of  the  Public 
School  System  of  the  City  of  New  York,  1911-1912,  Part  II,  p.  265. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  165 

of  types  of  mind  with  which  we  have  to  deal.  If  we  can  have 
four  or  five  honor  courses,  something  like  those  of  the  English 
universities,  where  the  studies  are  grouped  and  the  examinations 
arranged  to  meet  the  needs  of  these  different  types,  we  can,  I 
think,  realize  the  chief  advantages  of  the  elective  system  or  the 
group  system  without  subjecting  ourselves  to  their  evils.  I  am 
confident  that  we  can  secure  a  degree  of  collective  intellectual 
interest  which  is  now  absent  from  most  of  our  colleges,  and  can 
establish  competitions  which  will  be  recognized  not  only  in  college 
but  in  the  world  as  places  where  the  best  men  can  show  what  is 
in  them. 

It  may  be  objected  that  any  such  arrangement  would  render  it 
difficult  for  a  boy  to  study  the  particular  things  that  he  was  going 
to  use  in  after  life.  I  regard  this  as  its  cardinal  advantage.  The 
ideal  college  education  seems  to  me  to  be  one  where  a  student 
learns  things  that  he  is  not  going  to  use  in  after  life,  by  methods 
that  he  is  going  to  use.  The  former  element  gives  the  breadth,  the 
latter  element  gives  the  training.1 

FORMAL  DISCIPLINE  AND  TRANSFER  OF  TRAINING 

The  controversy  here  illustrated  has  led  to  the  develop- 
ment of  a  number  of  technical  phrases.  The  doctrine  that 
emphasizes  form  or  method  as  opposed  to  content  is  known 
as  the  doctrine  of  formal  discipline.  The  advocates  of  this 
doctrine  defend  the  view  that  training  gained  in  one  field 
will  transfer  to  other  fields  of  activity.  Stated  in  these  terms 
the  doctrine  is  referred  to  as  that  of  the  transfer  of  training. 

The  doctrine  of  transfer  of  training  is  capable  of  experi- 
mental and  statistical  verification  or  refutation.  A  vast  body 
of  evidence  has  been  collected  in  recent  years.  The  conclu- 
sions to  be  drawn  from  this  evidence  are  clear.  There  are 
certain  general  habits,  such  as  concentration  of  attention 
and  power  of  arranging  and  expressing  ideas,  which  carry 
over  from  one  field  of  experience  to  another.  The  transfer 

1  Report  of  the  President  of  Vale  University,  1908-1909.  Published  by 
the  University,  New  Haven,  1909. 


1 66     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

of  training  is  facilitated  if  the  original  training  is  given 
in  such  a  form  that  it  lends  itself  readily  to  application  in 
new  spheres  of  thought.  So  important  is  the  development 
of  general  habits  that  it  is  entirely  legitimate  to  proceed  at 
every  stage  of  education  slowly  enough  to  give  to  each  sub- 
ject its  relations  through  a  variety  of  possible  applications. 
It  is  recognized  as  impossible  to  give  in  the  schools  direct 
special  training  for  all  possible  lines  of  activity  upon  which 
the  pupil  is  to  enter.  Some  effort  must  be  expended  in  cul- 
tivating what  may  properly  be  called  the  applying  attitude  of 
mind.  Once  the  applying  attitude  is  aroused  in  any  indi- 
vidual, the  transfer  of  training  will  be  likely  to  go  on  through 
individual  recognition  of  the  advantages  of  application. 

RELATION  OF  SUBJECTS  TO  MATURITY  OF  PUPILS 

The  quotation  from  McMurry  given  some  pages  back  sug- 
gests another  aspect  of  this  whole  matter  which  has  been 
a  subject  of  much  dispute.  When  should  certain  kinds  of 
training  be  introduced  into  the  curriculum  ?  A  quotation  will 
help  to  make  the  problem  clear. 

So  far  as  high-school  instruction  is  concerned,  the  most  impor- 
tant practical  question  raised  in  the  present  discussion  is  whether 
the  ability  to  learn  a  foreign  vocabulary  varies  with  age.  It  is 
almost  universally  claimed  that  a  student  must  begin  a  language 
when  young  in  order  to  learn  it  effectively  and  economically.  In 
opposition  to  this  theory,  we  shall  maintain,  as  in  the  case  of 
motor  skill,  that  a  foreign  vocabulary  can  be  learned  just  as 
economically  at  the  later  end  of  the  period  from  six  to  eighteen 
years  of  age  as  at  any  other  part  of  it.  As  the  basis  for  this  con- 
tention we  have  some  very  closely  related  evidence  from  experi- 
mental psychology,  in  the  work  done  upon  facility  in  memorizing 
at  different  ages.1 

1  Samuel  Chester  Parker,  Methods  of  Teaching  in  High  Schools, 
pp.  318-319.  Ginn  and  Company,  1915. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  167 

If  the  statement  here  quoted  is  accepted,  it  still  remains 
an  open  question  whether  the  pronunciation  of  a  foreign 
language  is  worth  acquiring  and  whether  pronunciation  is 
to  be  sought  as  an  important  element  of  the  study,  for  if  it 
is,  there  is  little  doubt  that  young  children  acquire  it  more 
easily  and  more  accurately  than  do  older  persons. 

The  example  is  introduced  not  for  the  purpose  of 
attempting  a  settlement  of  the  question  but  for  the  purpose 
of  showing  that  the  organization  of  the  curriculum  raises 
questions  which  are  now  answered  for  the  most  part  on 
the  basis  of  mere  prejudice,  but  should  be  answered  in  the 
light  of  a  body  of  broad,  scientific  evidence.  Certainly  the 
problem  of  the  distribution  of  a  pupil's  studies  through 
the  various  periods  of  his  mental  development  is  one  of 
the  most  important  of  these  problems. 

SUMMARY 

The  doctrine  of  discipline  holds  that  it  is  desirable  by  training 
to  transform  in  some  measure  the  natural  tendencies  of  the 
child's  mind. 

The  general  doctrine  of  natural  education  emphasizes  the  im- 
portance of  following  the  lines  of  natural  development  in  education. 
Often  this  doctrine  is  so  formulated  as  to  be  opposed  to  the 
doctrine  of  discipline. 

When  dealing  with  the  intellectual  side  of  the  pupil's  nature  the 
doctrine  of  discipline  takes  the  form  of  a  demand  for  cultivation 
of  concentration.  Natural  education  asserts  the  right  of  the  child 
to  his  personal  interests  and  is  liberal  in  making  concessions  to 
these  interests. 

The  form  of  the  doctrine  of  natural  education  most  directly 
opposed  to  the  doctrine  of  discipline  is  the  doctrine  of  freedom. 
According  to  this  view  the  pupil  should  be  left  to  follow  his 
natural  impulses. 

Another  form  of  the  doctrine  of  natural  education  recognizes 
the  differences  between  individuals  as  important  considerations 
in  governing  their  training. 


1 68     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

Training  for  practical  life  is  a  very  common  basis  for  the 
organization  of  the  curriculum  and  has  been  amply  illustrated 
in  earlier  chapters. 

Training  in  the  methods  or  tools  of  knowledge  is  in  some 
measure  opposed  to  the  demand  for  practical  training. 

Training  of  general  intelligence  is  advocated  because  it  gives 
the  student  greater  freedom  in  adjusting  his  career  to  the  circum- 
stances of  later  life. 

Training  in  the  forms  of  knowledge,  or  formal  training,  some- 
times called  formal  discipline,  is  practically  synonymous  with 
training  of  general  intelligence. 

The  doctrine  of  transfer  of  training  is  one  formulation  of  the 
doctrine  of  formal  discipline.  Evidence  is  abundant  that  transfer 
takes  place.  Its  degree  and  the  methods  of  securing  it  are  sub- 
jects of  vigorous  investigation. 

The  adaptation  of  training  to  the  maturity  of  pupils  is  one  of 
the  most  important  requirements  in  arranging  a  curriculum.  In  a 
later  chapter  this  will  be  discussed  under  the  title  "  Periodicity  in 
the  Pupil's  Development." 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

The  arguments  for  and  against  disciplinary  subjects  should  be 
followed  in  detail.  Thus,  why  so  much  arithmetic  in  the  lower 
school  ?  Is  it  necessary  to  have  as  much  as  we  do  in  the  upper 
grades,  even  admitting  its  value  in  the  lower  grades  ?  Are 
students  of  higher  mathematics  practical  men  ? 

A  child  brought  up  in  an  indulgent  home  is  sometimes  pointed 
out  as  a  horrible  example  of  a  child  brought  up  with  unlimited 
freedom.  Is  the  example  just  ?  What  are  the  different  meanings 
which  may  attach  to  the  term  "  freedom  "  ? 

What  does  maturity  on  the  part  of  a  pupil  mean  ?  What  are 
the  marks  of  increasing  maturity  ?  Can  maturity  be  produced  by 
deliberately  adopted  school  methods  ? 

What  elements  of  one's  own  education  can  be  traced  to  the 
demand  on  the  part  of  some  teacher  or  parent  for  discipline  ? 
Was  the  demand  when  put  into  actual  operation  in  the  school 
successful  in  producing  general  improvement  in  one's  ability  ? 


PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  169 

Classify  subjects  in  the  curriculum  as  designed  to  satisfy  dif- 
ferent aims.  How  many  different  aims  can  be  distinguished  as 
appealing  to  men  of  ordinary  experience  in  their  efforts  to  secure 
an  education  ?  Booker  Washington  used  to  say  that  he  found 
many  people  desiring  an  education  in  order  that  they  might  escape 
from  hard  work.  Is  this  a  common  desire  ?  Is  it  legitimate  ?  Is 
it  harder  to  earn  one's  living  by  composing  music  or  by  keeping 
books  ?  Why  do  men  want  an  education  ? 

HECK,  W.  H.  Mental  Discipline  and  Educational  Values.  John  Lane 
Company.  A  summary  of  the  arguments  for  and  against  formal 
discipline  with  a  very  strong  bias  against. 

JUDD,  C.  H.  Psychology  of  High-School  Subjects.  Ginn  and  Company. 
Especially  the  chapter  which  deals  with  formal  discipline,  with  an 
affirmative  statement  of  what  such  discipline  means. 

McMuRRY,  C.  A.  Conflicting  Principles  in  Teaching.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Company.  An  interesting  and  balanced  summary  of  the 
general  principles  discussed  in  this  chapter  and  other  principles 
of  like  type. 


CHAPTER  XII 

INDIVIDUAL  DIFFERENCES 
ADAPTATION  OF  CURRICULUM  TO  INDIVIDUAL  PUPILS 

A  number  of  times  in  the  last  few  chapters  the  discussion 
has  been  brought  to  the  point  of  recognizing  the  importance 
of  individual  differences.  The  teacher  cannot  determine 
merely  from  a  knowledge  of  history  what  history  is  suitable 
for  a  given  type  of  pupils.  In  the  elective  system  of  the 
high  school  and  of  the  college  there  is  a  liberal  recognition 
of  the  principle  that  instruction  must  be  adapted  to  individ- 
uals, both  in  content  and  method.  The  present  chapter  will 
be  given  over  to  a  treatment  of  some  of  the  individual  dif- 
ferences among  pupils  which  are  of  dominant  significance 
in  formulating  the  curriculum. 

Low  GRADES  OF  INTELLIGENCE 

The  most  striking  example  of  individual  deviation  from 
the  average  grade  of  intelligence  is  to  be  found  in  the  cases 
of  those  unfortunates  who  continue  throughout  life  to  be 
deficient  because  they  have  underdeveloped  nervous  systems. 
As  a  result  of  heredity  or  pathological  conditions  in  early 
childhood  a  certain  number  of  persons,  conservatively  esti- 
mated as  two  in  every  thousand,  are  permanently  subnormal. 
These  cases  vary  in  degree.  The  lowest  grade  defectives, 
known  as  idiots,  are  defined  in  the  Report  of  the  British 
Royal  Commission  on  the  Feeble-minded  as  persons  "  so 
deeply  defective  in  mind  from  birth  or  from  early  age  that 
they  are  unable  to  guard  themselves  against  common  physi- 
cal dangers."  The  less  defective  are  classed  as  imbeciles, 

170 


INDIVIDUAL  DIFFERENCES  171 

feeble-minded,  and  morons,  each  class  representing  a  further 
approach  toward  normality. 

The  lower  grades  of  defectives  are  so  dependent  on  the 
care  of  others  that  they  do  not  reach  the  school  at  all,  but 
the  higher  grades  either  escape  detection  until  they  try  to 
learn  reading  and  arithmetic  or  through  the  persistence  of 
parents  are  brought  to  school  in  the  hope  that  their  defec- 
tiveness  may  be  temporary.  Some  of  the  highest  grades 
succeed  in  learning  enough  so  that  they  pass  out  of  the 
first  grade.  They  do  not  master  reading,  but  they  learn  to 
repeat  the  words  sufficiently  to  deceive  the  teacher  with  the 
appearance  of  having  recognized  the  printed  symbols. 

DIFFERENTIATED  COURSES 

As  soon  as  a  defective  child  is  discovered,  it  is  advan- 
tageous for  him  and  for  the  other  pupils  in  the  school  that 
he  be  given  some  form  of  special  training.  In  most  cases 
it  is  more  than  useless  to  try  to  give  him  the  ordinary 
school  courses.  He  cannot  learn  to  read  well  enough  to 
enable  him  to  get  information  from  books.  He  can,  on  the 
other  hand,  acquire  some  of  the  simple  arts  of  self-support. 
It  would  be  better  for  all  concerned  to  give  up  the  effort  to 
teach  such  a  child  reading. 

The  major  objection  to  a  program  of  this  type  is  that  it 
is  sometimes  extremely  difficult  and,  in  the  early  years,  often 
quite  impossible  to  decide  whether  the  child  is  really  defec- 
tive or  is  merely  slow  in  development.  Some  children  come 
to  their  normal  powers  slowly,  but  ultimately  reach  a  level 
of  intellectual  and  physical  efficiency  so  high  that  they  are 
not  to  be  classed  with  the  defectives.  One  hesitates,  there- 
fore, to  give  up  the  teaching  of  reading  in  the  case  of  a 
particular  child  until  all  possibility  of  his  development  is 
past.  It  is  better  to  err  on  the  side  of  too  great  training 
than  to  despair  at  too  early  a  date. 


1 72     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

TESTS  OF  GENERAL  INTELLIGENCE 

In  the  effort  to  discover  defectives  various  systems  of 
tests  have  been  devised.  The  general  assumption  back  of 
all  these  systems  is  that  a  defective  child  is  one  whose 
mental  development  has  prematurely  ceased.  For  example, 
a  twelve-year-old  child  may  be  behind  in  his  development  to 
such  an  extent  that  he  has  a  mind  like  a  four-year-old.  If, 
now,  it  can  be  determined  what  mental  powers  are  possessed 
by  an  ordinary  four-year-old  and  if  the  defective  can  be 
shown  to  possess  the  same  powers,  and  no  more,  it  is  pos- 
sible to  adapt  instruction  to  his  real  intellectual  needs. 
Technical  students  of  the  problem  have  accordingly  drawn 
the  distinction  between  physiological  age  and  mental  age. 
In  the  example  cited  above  the  physiological  age  is  twelve ; 
the  mental  age,  four. 

A  system  of  tests  of  this  kind  has  another  use.  If  a 
child  is  put  through  the  tests  at  intervals  of  a  year,  it  can  be 
ascertained  whether  he  is  improving  or  standing  still.  In 
this  way  some  of  the  uncertainties  as  to  the  permanence  or 
temporary  character  of  his  deficiencies  can  be  removed. 

Tests  of  the  type  under  discussion  are  called  tests  of 
general  intelligence.  An  example  taken  from  one  of  the 
most  widely  used  systems,  namely,  the  Binet-Simon  series, 
will  serve  to  show  what  the  tests  are  and  how  they  are 
used.  The  special  form  of  the  test  here  quoted  is  that 
worked  out  by  Professor  Terman.  His  exposition  of  one 
of  the  fifth-year  tests  is  as  follows  : 

Materials.  It  is  necessary  to  have  two  weights,  identical  in 
shape,  size,  and  appearance,  weighing  respectively  3  and  1 5  grams. 
If  manufactured  weights  are  not  at  hand,  it  is  easy  to  make  sat- 
isfactory substitutes  by  taking  stiff  cardboard  pill-boxes,  about 
i  \  inches  in  diameter,  and  filling  them  with  cotton  and  shot  to  the 
desired  weight.  The  shot  must  be  embedded  in  the  center  of  the 
cotton  so  as  to  prevent  rattling.  After  the  box  has  been  loaded  to 


INDIVIDUAL  DIFFERENCES  173 

the  exact  weight,  the  lid  should  be  glued  on  firmly.  If  one  does 
not  have  access  to  laboratory  scales,  it  is  always  possible  to  secure 
the  help  of  a  druggist  in  the  rather  delicate  task  of  weighing  the 
boxes  accurately.  A  set  of  pill-box  weights  will  last  through  hun- 
dreds of  tests,  if  handled  carefully,  but  they  will  not  stand  rough 
usage.  The  manufactured  blocks  are  more  durable,  and  so  more 
satisfactory  in  the  long  run.  If  the  weights  are  not  at  hand,  the 
alternative  test  may  be  substituted. 

Procedure.  Place  the  3-  and  15 -gram  weights  on  the  table  before 
the  child  some  two  or  three  inches  apart.  Say :  "  You  see  these 
blocks.  They  look  Just  alike,  but  one  of  them  is  heavy  and  one  is 
light.  Try  them  and  tell  me  which  one  is  heavier."  If  the  child 
does  not  respond,  repeat  the  instructions,  saying  this  time,  "  Tell 
me  which  one  is  the  heaviest."  (Many  American  children  have 
heard  only  the  superlative  form  of  the  adjective  used  in  the 
comparison  of  two  objects.) 

Sometimes  the  child  merely  points  to  one  of  the  boxes  or  picks 
up  one  at  random  and  hands  it  to  the  examiner,  thinking  he  is 
asked  to  guess  which  is  heaviest.  We  then  say :  "  No,  that  is  not 
the  way.  You  must  take  the  boxes  in  your  hands  and  try  them,  like 
this  "  (illustrating  by  lifting  with  one  hand,  first  one  box  and  then 
the  other,  a  few  inches  from  the  table).  Most  children  of  5  years 
are  then  able  to  make  the  comparison  correctly.  Very  young 
subjects,  however,  or  older  ones  who  are  retarded,  sometimes 
adopt  the  rather  questionable  method  of  lifting  both  weights  in 
the  same  hand  at  once.  This  is  always  an  unfavorable  sign, 
especially  if  one  of  the  blocks  is  placed  in  the  hand  on  top  of  the 
other  block. 

After  the  first  trial  the  weights  are  shuffled  and  again  presented 
for  comparison  as  before,  this  time  with  the  positions  reversed.  The 
third  trial  follows  with  the  blocks  in  the  same  position  as  in  the 
first  trial.  Some  children  have  a  tendency  to  stereotyped  behavior, 
which  in  this  test  shows  itself  by  choosing  always  the  block  on  a 
certain  side.  Hence  the  necessity  of  alternating  the  jx>sitions. 
Reserve  commendation  until  all  three  trials  have  been  given. 

Scoring.  The  test  is  passed  if  two  of  the  three  comparisons  are 
correct.  If  there  is  reason  to  suspect  that  the  successful  responses 
were  due  to  lucky  guesses,  the  test  should  be  entirely  repeated. 


174     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

Remarks.  This  test  is  decidedly  more  difficult  than  that  of 
comparing  lines.  It  is  doubtful,  however,  if  we  can  regard  the 
difference  as  one  due  primarily  to  the  relative  difficulty  of  visual 
discrimination  and  muscular  discrimination.  In  fact,  the  test  with 
weights  hardly  taxes  sensory  discrimination  at  all  when  used  with 
children  of  5-year  intelligence.  Success  depends,  in  the  first  place, 
on  the  ability  to  understand  the  instructions ;  and  in  the  second 
place,  on  the  power  to  hold  the  instructions  in  mind  long  enough 
to  guide  the  process  of  making  the  comparison.  The  test  presup- 
poses, in  elementary  form,  a  power  which  is  operative  in  all  the 
higher  independent  processes  of  thought,  the  power  to  neglect  the 
manifold  distractions  of  irrelevant  sensations  and  ideas  and  to  drive 
direct  toward  a  goal.  Here  the  goal  is  furnished  by  the  instruction, 
"  Try  them  and  see  which  is  heavier."  This  must  be  held  firmly 
enough  in  mind  to  control  the  steps  necessary  for  making  the 
comparison.  Ideas  of  piling  the  blocks  on  top  of  one  another, 
throwing  them,  etc.,  must  be  inhibited.  Sometimes  the  low-grade 
imbecile  starts  off  in  a  very  promising  way,  then  apparently  forgets 
the  instructions  (loses  sight  of  the  goal),  and  begins  to  play  with 
the  boxes  in  a  random  way.  His  mental  processes  are  not  con- 
secutive, stable,  or  controlled.  He  is  blown  about  at  the  mercy  of 
every  gust  of  momentary  interest. 

There  is  very  general  agreement  in  the  assignment  of  this  test 
to  year  V.1 

EXCEPTIONALLY  BRIGHT  PUPILS 

Thus  far  the  discussion  has  been  of  inferior  individuals. 
There  are  likewise  individuals  who  are  superior  to  the 
average.  Schools  have  ordinarily  taken  little  account  of 
these.  They  do  not  constitute  urgent  problems  in  the  same 
sense  as  defectives.  The  supernormal  child  can  get  his 
lessons,  if  he  will,  so  that  the  teacher  will  never  have  to 
bother  with  him.  A  moment's  thought  on  the  matter,  how- 
ever, will  convince  anyone  that  society  has  more  to  gain 

1  Lewis  M.  Terman,  The  Measurement  of  Intelligence,  pp.  161-163. 
Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  1916. 


\ 


INDIVIDUAL  DIFFERENCES  175 

from  a  proper  system  of  training  supernormal  children  than 
from  special  provisions  for  the  subnormal.  Since  defense 
is  of  the  most  vital  importance,  we  may  say  that  society 
had  at  the  outset  to  defend  itself  against  the  harm  that 
might  be  dene  by  subnormals.  But  defense  having  been 
provided  in  adequate  degree,  attention  should  turn  to  the 
possibilities  of  great  benefit  which  may  be  expected  from 
special  training  of  the  unusually  bright. 

Various  devices  have  been  suggested  for  the  treatment 
of  the  supernormal.  In  general,  the  principles  underlying 
these  suggestions  are  the  same  as  the  principles  for  the 
treatment  of  subnormals.  Separate  the  unusually  bright 
and  give  them  a  type  of  training  which  will  best  develop 
their  personal  powers. 

In  a  school  system  which  has  only  a  few  special  cases  of 
the  one  type  or  the  other  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  follow 
the  suggestion  of  special  training  for  special  levels  of  ability. 
The  matter  must  be  left  in  such  cases  to  the  ingenuity  of 
the  teacher.  The  bright  pupil  should  be  given  extra  work 
and,  so  far  as  possible,  special  attention.  The  dull  child 
should  be  allowed  to  do  some  useful  handwork.  Where  the 
system  is  larger,  special  rapid  classes  —  express  classes,  as 
they  have  sometimes  been  called  —  should  be  organized  for 
the  bright  pupils,  while  slowly  moving  classes  are  provided 
for  the  backward  pupils. 

SEX  DIFFERENCES 

Leaving  the  degrees  of  intelligence,  we  turn  to  a  distinction 
which  is  of  an  entirely  different  type  —  the  difference  between 
boys  and  girls. 

It  is  difficult  to  disentangle  this  problem  from  a  mass  of 
social  considerations  which  attach  to  it.  Women  and  girl* 
have  grown  up  under  a  social  system  that  has  assumed  on 
their  part  fundamentally  different  tastes  and  interests  from 


176     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

those  of  men  and  boys.  The  social  system  has  sometimes 
expressed  itself  in  terms  which  imply  inferiority  of  women 
as  compared  with  men.  It  is  natural,  therefore,  that  at  a 
period  when  women  and  girls  are  taking  a  new  place  in 
the  social  scheme,  there  should  be  at  first  a  good  deal  of 
attention  given  to  the  demonstration  that  women  are  not 
inferior  to  men.  The  simplest  demonstration  can,  of  course, 
be  given  by  putting  girls  into  the  same  classes  with  boys  and 
requiring  of  them  the  same  intellectual  tasks.  For  some 
years  past  the  experiment  has  been  under  way.  Girls  have 
shown  themselves  not  only  quite  as  competent  intellectually 
as  boys  but  in  some  respects  superior. 

During  the  period  of  experimentation,  however,  there 
has  persisted  a  difference  in  tastes  and  interests ;  and  the 
demand  for  a  special  training  for  girls  was  never  louder 
than  to-day  when  the  proof  that  girls  are  quite  as  competent 
as  boys  seems  to  be  incontrovertible. 

The  reasons  for  this  demand  are  connected  in  part  with 
the  later  practical  uses  to  which  girls  expect  to  put  their 
training  and  in  part  with  the  fact  that  girls  give  attention  to 
certain  groups  of  facts  which  boys  neglect,  while  boys,  on 
the  other  hand,  have  their  special  spheres  of  interest. 

For  example,  boys  are  always  brought  up  to  interest 
themselves  in  mechanical  appliances.  When  a  boy  comes 
to  study  natural  science,  therefore,  it  is  easily  possible  to 
introduce  the  subject  by  examples  of  a  mechanical  type. 
Parents  do  not  give  girls  mechanical  toys,  society  assumes 
that  girls  will  not  engage  in  occupations  which  call  for  a 
knowledge  of  machinery,  consequently  they  do  not  readily 
take  up  courses  in  physics  which  begin  with  mechanics. 

The  present  situation,  then,  is  something  like  this  :  girls 
are  proved  to  be  equal  to  boys  in  school  ability,  but  continue 
with  the  full  sanction  of  society  to  have  tastes  and  interests 
different  from  those  of  boys. 


INDIVIDUAL  DIFFERENCES  177 

DIFFERENCES  IN  INDUSTRIAL  OPPORTUNITY  FOR  THE  SEXES 
AND  CORRESPONDING  DEMANDS  FOR  TRAINING 

The  contrast  in  industrial  demands  which  the  school  must 
meet  in  dealing  with  boys  and  girls  who  are  preparing  for 
clerical  positions  is  shown  in  the  following  summary  of 
conclusions  reached  by  the  Cleveland  survey : 

Training  for  boys  and  girls  should  be  different  in  content  and 
in  emphasis. 

The  usual  course  of  study  in  commercial  schools  is  suitable  for 
girls  and  unsuitable  for  boys. 

A  girl  needs,. chiefly,  specific  training  in  some  one  line  of  work. 
She  has  a  choice  among  stenography,  bookkeeping  and  machine 
operating. 

A  boy  needs,  chiefly,  general  education,  putting  emphasis  on 
writing,  figuring,  and  spelling ;  general  information ;  and  the 
development  of  certain  qualities  and  standards. 

Boys'  training  looks  forward  to  both  clerical  work  and  business 
administration  ;  but  as  clerical  work  is  a  preparation  for  business 
and  is  likely  to  occupy  the  first  few  years  of  wage-earning,  training 
should  aim  especially  to  meet  the  needs  of  clerical  positions. 

Clerical  positions  for  boys  cover  a  variety  of  work  which  cannot 
be  definitely  anticipated  and  cannot  therefore  be  specifically  trained 
for.  But  certain  fundamental  needs  are  common  to  all. 

Most  of  the  specialized  training  for  boys  should  be  given  in 
night  continuation  classes. 

Girl  stenographers  need  a  full  high  school  course  for  its  educa- 
tional value  and  for  maturity.  Girls  going  into  other  clerical 
positions  can  qualify  with  a  year  or  two  less  of  education  ;  but 
immaturity  in  any  case  puts  them  at  a  disadvantage. 

Boys'  training,  for  those  who  cannot  remain  in  school,  should 
be  compressed  into  fewer  than  four  years.  Immaturity  in  the  case 
of  boys  is  not  a  great  disadvantage.' 

1  Bertha  ^f.  Stevens,  Boys  and  Girls  in  Commercial  Work,  pp.  179-180. 
Cleveland  F.ducation  Survey.  Published  by  the  Survey  Committee  of  the 
Cleveland  Foundation,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  1916. 


i;8     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

To  many  readers  not  prepared  by  a  full  consideration  of 
the  facts  the  above  conclusions  may  seem  untenable.  A  brief 
section  of  the  argument  will  therefore  be  important  in  carry- 
ing conviction.  This  argument  is  presented  in  the  following 
quotation  : 

If  we  wish  to  generalize  broadly  about  the  work  of  boys  and 
girls  we  can  say  with  truth  that  the  majority  of  boys  begin  as 
messengers  or  office  boys  and  subsequently  become  clerks  or  do 
bookkeeping  work.  As  men  they  remain  in  these  latter  positions 
or,  in  at  least  an  equal  number  of  cases,  pass  on  into  the  pro- 
ductive or  administrative  end  of  business.  The  majority  of  girls, 
first  and  last,  are  stenographers  or  to  a  less  extent,  assistants  in 
bookkeeping  or  clerical  work.  There  are  of  course  boy  stenogra- 
phers and  girl  clerks,  and  there  are  women  in  general  administrative 
work ;  but  that  these  are  a  minority  this  report  has  several  ways 
of  showing. 

Boys'  work  may  be  expected  to  take  on  the  characteristics  of 
the  business  that  employs  them ;  girls'  work  remains  in  essentials 
unchanged  even  in  totally  changed  surroundings.  For  example,  a 
boy  who  is  clerk  in  a  wholesale  house  will  have  work  very  unlike 
that  of  the  boy  who  is  clerk  in  a  bank ;  but  girl  stenographers  in 
both  businesses  will  have  an  experience  that  is  practically  the  same. 

Boys'  work,  within  limits,  is  progressive ;  girls'  work  in  its  gen- 
eral type  —  with  individual  exceptions  —  is  static.  Boys  as  a  rule 
cannot  stay  at  the  same  kind  of  work  and  advance ;  girls  as  a 
rule  stay  at  the  same  kind  of  work  whether  or  not  they  advance. 
Boys  in  any  position  are  expected  to  be  qualifying  themselves  for 
the  "  job  ahead,"  but  for  girls  that  is  not  the  case.  Boys  may  ex- 
pect to  make  a  readjustment  with  every  step  in  advancement. 
Each  new  position  brings  them  to  a  new  situation  and  into  a  new 
relation  to  the  business.  Girls  receive  salary  advancement  for  in- 
creasingly responsible  work,  but  any  change  in  work  is  likely  to  be 
so  gradual  as  to  be  almost  imperceptible  if  they  remain  in  the 
same  place  of  employment.  If  they  change  to  another  place  those 
who  are  stenographers  have  a  slight  readjustment  to  make  in 
getting  accustomed  to  new  terms  and  to  the  peculiarities  of  the 
new  persons  who  dictate  to  them.  Bookkeeping  assistants  may 


INDIVIDUAL  DIFFERENCES  179 

encounter  different  systems,  but  their  part  of  the  work  will  be  so 
directed  and  planned  that  it  cannot  be  said  to  necessitate  difficult 
adaptation  on  their  part.  The  work  of  clerical  assistants  is  so  sim- 
ple and  so  nearly  mechanical  that  the  question  of  adjustment  does 
not  enter.  These  girl  workers  do  not  find  that  change  of  position 
or  firm  brings  them  necessarily  into  a  new  relation  to  the  business. 

Even  moderate  success  is  denied  to  a  boy  if  he  has  not  adapta- 
bility and  the  capacity  to  grasp  business  ideas  and  methods ;  but  a 
comparatively  high  degree  of  success  could  be  attained  by  a  girl 
who  possessed  neither  of  these  qualifications.  A  boy,  however, 
who  has  no  specific  training  which  he  can  apply  directly  and  defi- 
nitely in  work  would  be  far  more  likely  to  obtain  a  good  opening 
and  promotion  than  a  girl  without  it  would  be. 

The  range  of  a  boy's  possible  future  in  commercial  occupations 
is  as  wide  as  the  field  of  business.  He  cannot  at  first  be  trained 
specifically  as  a  girl  can  be  because  he  does  not  know  what  busi- 
ness will  do  with  him  or  what  he  wants  to  do  with  business.  The 
girl's  choice  is  limited  by  custom.  She  can  prepare  herself  defi- 
nitely for  stenography,  bookkeeping,  or  machine  operating  and  be 
sure  that  she  is  preparing  for  just  the  opportunity  —  and  the  whole 
opportunity  —  that  business  offers  to  her.  Her  very  limitation  of 
opportunity  makes  preliminary  choice  and  training  definitely  pos- 
sible things.1 

HOUSEHOLD  ARTS  AS  EXTRAS 

There  is  another  respect  in  which  the  present-day  training 
of  girls  differs  from  that  of  boys.  Girls  are  being  trained 
in  the  science  of  home-making.  Where  a  girl  intends  to 
take  up  some  vocation  in  the  business  world,  her  desire  for 
courses  in  the  household  arts  complicates  the  situation  very 
seriously.  The  boy  who  is  going  into  business  wants  a  gen- 
eral education  plus  some  business  training.  The  girl  wants 
all  that  the  boy  has  plus  household  arts. 

1  Hertha  M.  Stevens,  Boys  and  (iirls  in  Commercial  Work,  pp.  14-16. 
Cleveland  Kducation  Survey.  Published  by  the  Survey  Committee  of  the 
Cleveland  Foundation,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  1916. 


i8o     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

DEMAND  FOR  NEW  COURSES  FOR  GIRLS 

The  demand  for  the  complete  education  of  girls  gives 
rise  to  many  unsolved  problems.  For  example,  shall  physics 
as  at  present  taught  be  required  as  an  introduction  to  cook- 
ing, or  shall  the  cooking  course  be  made  to  carry  all  the 
physics  that  the  girl  needs  ?  The  course  in  physics,  be  it 
remembered,  contains  many  an  example  that  is  drawn  from 
the  boy's  sphere  of  interests  in  mechanics  and  does  not 
appeal  at  all  to  the  girl's  interests. 

Or  one  may  ask  a  similar  question  about  economics. 
Shall  the  girl  be  given  a  special  course  in  marketing  in 
which  examples  are  drawn  from  the  daily  activities  of  home 
life,  or  shall  she  wait  until  she  can  take  the  conventional 
course  in  political  economy  where  the  problems  are  often 
those  of  international  trade  and  banking  ? 

It  would  be  impossible  to  secure  anything  like  unanimity 
for  any  answer  to  these  questions.  The  uncertainty  in  regard 
to  the  correct  answer  calls  attention  to  the  opportunity  which 
is  offered  to  the  intelligent  women  of  the  teaching  profes- 
sion to  solve  a  problem  which  is  new  and  complicated,  but 
all  the  more  important  because  there  are  no  guideposts  to 
mark  the  way. 

INDIVIDUAL  DIFFERENCES  WHICH  APPEAR  DURING 
TRAINING 

The  individual  differences  discussed  up  to  this  point  may 
be  described  as  native  differences.  In  addition,  there  are 
differences  which  appear  in  the  course  of  training.  These, 
in  turn,  divide  into  two  classes.  There  are  differences  which 
seem  to  result  from  varying  degrees  of  mastery  of  the  sub- 
jects taken  in  school,  and  there  are  differences  in  taste  and 
outlook  which  arise  as  the  pupils  mature  to  the  point  where 
they  begin  to  exhibit  personal  ambitions. 


INDIVIDUAL  DIFFERENCES 


181 


Recent  studies  of  attainments  of  pupils  in  school  subjects 
show  how  striking  are  the  differences  among  individuals. 
For  example,  it  is  shown  in  the  Cleveland  survey  that  in 
the  fifth  grade  of  one  and  the  same  school  there  are  pupils 
who  read  orally  only  7,  8,  or  9  lines  in  a  minute,  while 
others  read  orally  19  or  20  lines.  In  silent  reading  the 


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FIG.  13.   Individual  differences  in  the  number  of  lines  read  in  a  minute  by 
pupils  in  the  fifth  grades  of  two  schools 

Each  small  square  with  a  number  represents  an  individual ;  the  number  indicates 
the  lines  which  he  was  able  to  read  in  a  selected  passage  in  one  minute 

variations  are  even  greater,  covering  rates  from  as  low  as 
4  lines  a  minute  to  as  high  as  40  lines.1  What  is  true  of 
reading  is  true  in  equal  degree  of  all  the  other  subjects. 
The  facts  are  graphically  shown  in  Fig.  13. 

1  Measuring  the  Work  of  the  Public  Schools,  pp.  131-133.  Cleveland 
Kducation  Survey.  Published  by  the  Survey  Committee  of  the  Cleve 
land  P'oundation,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  1916. 


1 82     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

The  type  of  individual  difference  which  develops  when 
pupils  begin  to  look  forward  to  their  places  in  the  practical 
world  is  of  great  significance  in  organizing  school  work. 
School  experience  in  this  matter  is  clearly  reflected  in  the 
following  resolution  adopted  in  1915  by  the  Department  of 
Superintendence  of  the  National  Education  Association  : 

Resolved,  That  we  note  with  approval  the  increasing  tendency 
to  establish,  beginning  with  the  seventh  grade,  differentiated 
courses  of  study  aimed  more  effectively  to  prepare  the  child  for 
his  probable  future  activities.  We  believe  that  as  a  result  of  these 
modifications  a  more  satisfactory  type  of  instruction  will  be 
developed  and  that  a  genuine  economy  of  time  will  result.1 

The  differentiation  of  the  curriculum  here  demanded  is 
required  in  order  to  keep  in  school  those  pupils  who  have 
reached  the  point  where  any  simple  uniform  curriculum 
would  fail  to  furnish  the  variety  which  they  require  to  meet 
their  developing  tastes  and  their  demands  for  special  training. 

DEMOCRATIC  RECOGNITION  OF  INDIVIDUAL  DIFFERENCES 

The  differentiation  of  the  courses  for  individual  pupils 
was  at  one  time  thought  to  be  contrary  to  the  democratic 
principle  that  all  pupils  must  be  treated  alike.  We  are 
coming  to  see  that  a  democracy  has  need  of  many  kinds  of 
people  and  that  the  truest  expression  of  the  principle  of 
equal  treatment  is  through  liberal  provision  for  individual 
differences. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

Evidently  low  grades  of  intelligence  are  most  likely  to  be  found 
in  the  lower  grades.  Is  the  elimination  of  low-grade  children  from 
the  regular  classes  advantageous  to  them  ?  It  is  sometimes  argued 
that  they  gain  from  association  with  the  bright  children. 

1  Proceedings  of  the  National  Education  Association  for  1915,  p.  256. 
Published  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Association,  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  1915. 


INDIVIDUAL  DIFFERENCES  183 

With  regard  to  the  bright  children,  it  is  pointed  out  that  they 
may  be  pushed  along  too  rapidly.  How  can  this  danger  be 
avoided  ? 

Are  the  elections  of  courses  made  by  students  in  high  school 
indicative  of  sex  differences?  What  tendencies  in  economic  life 
can  be  noted  as  bringing  men  and  women  to  the  same  levels  of 
occupation  ?  Are  these  tendencies  likely  to  change  the  conclusions 
reached  in  this  chapter  ? 

What  types  of  school  work  are  adjusted,  even  in  the  present 
school  program,  to  the  individual  characteristics  of  pupils?  How 
is  the  discussion  to  be  related  to  the  chapter  dealing  with  the 
grouping  of  pupils  ?  Is  the  argument  of  this  chapter  in  favor  of 
individual  tutoring?  How  far  should  it  be  insisted  that  all  the 
members  of  a  class  be  kept  together  for  a  year  in  their  attain- 
ments in  arithmetic  ?  in  Latin  ?  in  English  literature  ?  in  type- 
writing ?  in  laboratory  physics  ? 

How  far  down  in  the  elementary  school  can  individual  election 
of  courses  be  organized  with  profit  to  the  pupils  ?  Could  a  medical 
school  or  an  engineering  course  be  organized  on  the  elective  plan  ? 

GALTON,  FRANCIS.  Inquiries  into  Human  Faculty  and  its  Develop- 
ment E.  P.  Button  and  Company.  One  of  the  earliest  studies  of 
individual  differences  in  mental  characteristics,  with  special  emphasis 
on  differences  in  mental  imagery. 

THORNDIKE,  E.  L.  Educational  Psychology  (especially  Vol.  III). 
Teachers  College. 

THORNDIKE,  E.  L.  Measurements  of  Twins.  Science  Press.  A  study 
of  the  degree  to  which  individuals  are  alike. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

PERIODICITY  IN  THE  PUPIL'S  DEVELOPMENT 
RECOGNITION  OF  PERIODICITY  IN  PRESENT  ORGANIZATION 

Both  the  school  curriculum  and  the  general  organization 
of  the  school  program  in  such  matters  as  the  length  of 
class  periods  and  the  forms  of  order  required,  reflect  the 
fact  that  the  pupil  passes  through  distinct  periods  or 
epochs  in  his  physical  and  intellectual  development.  Each 
of  these  epochs  requires  that  a  certain  type  of  subject-matter 
be  used  for  instruction  and  that  a  certain  type  of  school 
discipline  be  administered.  There  is  a  progressive  maturing 
of  the  pupil  and  a  corresponding  broadening  and  deepening 
of  the  education  which  can  be  given  him.  The  general 
outline  of  this  maturing  process  will  be  reviewed  in  this 
chapter. 

THE  MEANING  OF  INFANCY 

Before  examining  the  changes  which  take  place  during 
school  life,  it  will  be  instructive  to  review  the  general  mat- 
ter which  has  been  discussed  by  John  Fiske  under  the  title 
"  The  Meaning  of  Infancy."  1  Writing  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  student  of  evolution,  Fiske  calls  attention  to 
the  fact  that  the  period  of  infancy  has  gradually  lengthened 
with  the  increase  in  complexity  of  animal  forms.  The  low- 
est animals  have  practically  no  period  of  infancy.  They 
begin  their  independent  lives  with  all  of  the  capacities 
of  the  adult.  For  example,  when  a  unicellular  animal  is 

1  John  Fiske,  The  Meaning  of  Infancy.  Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  1909. 

184 


PERIODICITY  IN  PUPIL'S  DEVELOPMENT     185 

produced,  it  results  from  a  division  of  the  parent  cell  into 
two  equal  parts.  Each  part  immediately  takes  up  an  inde- 
pendent life,  and  it  may  be  said  that  adulthood  begins  at 
birth.  Further  up  the  scale  the  parent  organism  provides 
protection  and  food,  and  the  infant  requires  a  longer  period 
of  time  to  arrive  at  adulthood. 

This  lengthening  of  infancy  is  paralleled  by  an  increase 
in  complexity  of  the  animal  form  itself.  The  highest  stages 
of  complexity  are  reached  in  man,  and  here  we  find  also 
the  longest  period  of  infancy.  The  human  infant  is  help- 
less for  years,  and  the  care  which  parents  must  give  to  it 
includes  not  only  the  provision  of  food  and  protection  but 
also  the  gradual  training  of  the  child  to  assume  the 
responsibilities  of  an  independent  life. 

When  viewed  by  the  evolutionist,  infancy  and  even  child- 
hood thus  appear  to  be  the  clearest  evidences  of  the  need 
of  educational  care.  Indeed,  childhood  may  be  described  as 
a  period  of  preparation  or  of  gradual  maturing  of  the  powers 
until  the  individual  can  carry  on  his  independent  personal 
activities. 

THE  PERIOD  BEFORE  ENTERING  SCHOOL 

Just  as  the  period  of  childhood  taken  as  a  whole  has  a 
clearly  definable  character  and  purpose  in  the  economy  of 
life,  so  each  epoch  within  this  period  can  be  set  off  from 
the  others  as  serving  a  distinct  purpose  in  the  child's 
development.  This  is  especially  clear  with  regard  to  the 
years  that  precede  school.  In  all  civilized  countries  there  is 
practical  agreement  that  regular  schooling  shall  begin  with 
the  normal  child  in  the  sixth  year.  To  be  sure,  there  are 
special  institutions  like  the  kindergarten,  which  receive  chil- 
dren at  an  earlier  age,  but  these  institutions  aim  to  serve 
in  a  somewhat  more  systematic  way  the  same  purposes  that 
under  other  circumstances  are  served  by  home  training. 


1 86     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

What  is  the  character  of  the  education  given  in  the  home 
or  the  kindergarten  preliminary  to  the  work  of  the  primary 
school  ?  The  answer  to  this  question  can  be  given  nega- 
tively by  saying  it  is  not  of  a  type  which  belongs  to  a  pub- 
lic institution.  When  the  pupil  comes  to  primary  school 
he  must  be  reasonably  prepared  to  live  with  people  who  are 
comparative  ^strangers.  This  implies  that  he  must  have  a 
sufficient  command  of  language  to  make  his  wants  known 
and  to  understand  what  others  want  him  to  do.  He  must 
be  somewhat  independent  of  maternal  care,  and  must  be 
ready  to  be  initiated  into  a  social  world  where  his  individu- 
ality will  be  recognized  as  somewhat  detached  from  that  of 
everyone  else.  Put  in  positive  terms,  the,  pre-school  training 
may  be  described  as  training  in  language  and  in  personal 
independence  of  a  very  elementary  type. 

This  statement  can  be  applied  to  the  kindergarten,  where 
the  purposes  of  the  pre-school  training  have  been  brought 
to  fairly  clear  consciousness.  The  kindergarten  gives  the 
child  much  opportunity  to  play  with  things  that  are  given 
to  him.  He  must  learn  to  distinguish  objects  for  himself ; 
he  must  learn  to  handle  them  with  enough  skill  so  that  he 
becomes  an  independent  individual.  Second,  he  must  play 
with  other  children,  learning  through  games  that  social  life 
consists  of  a  give  and  take  which  marks  him  off  from 
others  and  yet  makes  him  responsible  to  the  group.  The 
social  training  of  the  kindergarten  is  a  preparation  for  life 
in  an  institution  where  the  pupil  will  have  to  recognize  the 
reciprocal  duties  of  life  in  a  large  group.  Third,  the  chief 
instrument  of  social  life,  and  the  most  important  means  of 
effective  contact  with  the  group,  is  speech.  The  kinder- 
garten child,  through  songs  and  stories,  learns  words  and  sen- 
ten^es  and  cultivates  the  power  to  which  home-training  also 
contributes — the  power  of  independent  oral  communication. 

The  kindergarten  does  in  an  energetic  and  systematic 
way  what  the  home  does  incidentally,  for  in  any  home, 


PERIODICITY  IN  PUPIL'S  DEVELOPMENT     187 

however  meager  its  resources,  the  child  learns  in  five  years 
something  of  his  mother  tongue  and  something  of  the 
demands  of  group  living.  The  pre-school  period  is  an  im- 
portant epoch  in  education  as  well  as  in  physical  growth. 
We  recognize  the  physical  fact  that  the  child  must  cultivate 
strength  enough  to  run  around  independently  and  to  use  his 
hands  in  holding  what  he  needs.  So  it  is  also  in  the  sphere 
of  his  mental  life  ;  he  must  be  able  to  take  care  of  himself. 

THE  PRIMARY  PERIOD  ONE  OF  SOCIAL  IMITATION 

At  five  or  six  years  of  age  the  pupil  comes  to  the  pri- 
mary school.  His  experience  is  very  limited  ;  his  senses  are 
open  to  the  impressions  of  color  and  sound  and  touch,  and 
he  eagerly  or  timidly  mixes  in  the  social  group  which  is 
often  to  him  bewilderingly  large  and  strange.  The  key  to 
the  understanding  of  this  period  is  to  be  found  in  the  sim- 
ple psychological  principle  that  out  of  all  the  bewildering 
mass  of  childish  experience  it  is  persons  who  attract  the 
child's  most  vivid  attention.  The  experiences  of  childhood 
are  to  be  thought  of  not  as  meager  but  as  confusing  in  their 
abundance.  The  world  is  so  full  of  a  number  of  things 
that  one  hardly  knows  where  to  turn.  In  the  mass  of  this 
experience  one  turns  to  some  person  and  follows  in  a  docile 
way  the  lead  of  that  person.  The  first  grade  is  a  place 
where  children  do  what  others  do.  First-graders  are  a  flock 
of  sheep.  The  teacher  can  lead  them  into  almost  anything 
because  they  are  eager  to  do  whatever  they  see  others  do. 

Sometimes  this  period  is  described  as  a  period  when 
children  are  absorbed  in  sense  impressions.  This  statement 
is  true  if  it  means  that  colors  and  sounds  constitute  the 
content  of  experience.  It  is  false  if  it  is  meant  to  teach 
that  little  children  are  absorbed  in  the  study  of  objects. 
The  sounds  and  colors  which  hold  the  attention  of  primary 
children  are  those  which  attach  to  people.  A  little  child 


1 88     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

will  give  up  a  plaything  which  he  has  in  hand  for  a  less 
attractive  plaything  in  the  hands  of  someone  else.  Primary 
children  are  social  creatures  first,  last,  and  all  the  time. 

This  description  of  the  primary  child's  mental  attitudes 
gives  us  the  formula  for  the  organization  of  the  primary 
course  of  study.  There  is  an  eager  desire  on  the  part  of 
the  first-grader  to  write  his  name.  He  does  not  need  any 
artificial  stimulation  to  undertake  writing.  Other  people 
write ;  that  is  enough  for  him.  He  is  eager  to  be  initiated. 
Other  people  look  into  books ;  he  must  do  the  same.  The 
period  is  not  a  period  for  nature  study  in  any  analytical 
scientific  sense.  It  is  a  period  for  social  companionships. 
The  primary  child  likes  animals  as  playthings ;  he  is  not 
interested  in  studying  their  structure.  Show  an  animal  to 
a  little  child  and  let  him  ask  the  questions  that  are  in  his 
mind,  and  social  questions  are  the  only  ones  which  will 
come.  "  Where  can  I  get  one  ?  "  "  Will  it  bite  me  ?  " 

The  judgment  of  the  race  has  been  right ;  this  is  the 
period  for  the  teaching  of  reading  and  writing.  The  oral 
language  which  the  pupil  acquires  in  the  pre-school  period 
is  the  basis  on  which  the  primary  work  must  be  erected. 
The  first  reading  lessons  are  lessons  in  the  association  of 
known  oral  symbols  with  those  complicated  social  devices, 
the  printed  symbols.  The  ability  to  live  in  society  which  the 
pupil  brings  to  the  first  grade  must  be  extended  through 
the  mastery  of  language  in  its  written  and  printed  forms. 

The  utter  absorption  of  the  child  of  this  age  in  society 
rather  than  in  material  things  is  attested  by  his  credulity 
for  fairy  tales  which  are  full  of  people  but  are  grotesquely 
impossible  in  their  description  of  material  facts.  In  his 
eager  desire  to  illustrate  every  story  he  hears,  the  child  pro- 
duces drawings  which  have  very  little  merit  as  representa- 
tions of  things  but  are  often  expressive  of  action  in  the 
highest  degree.  A  child  of  this  age  is  keen  in  his  observa- 
tion of  people  but  neglectful  of  things. 


PERIODICITY  IN  PUPIL'S  DEVELOPMENT     189 

THE  PERIOD  OF  INDIVIDUALISM 

The  primary  attitude  of  mind  lasts  about  three  years.  In 
the  normal  child  nine  years  of  age  is  a  turning  point. 
By  this  time  he  has  learned  to  read  fairly  independently. 
He  can  write  and  can  solve  simple  problems  in  arithmetic. 
He  has  control  of  some  of  the  simpler  objects  about 
him.  He  has  imitated  his  elders  until  he  has  habits  of  his 
own.  Now  comes  a  change.  Sometimes  the  change  is 
sudden  and  violent.  The  pupil  who  has  been  laboriously 
writing  from  copy  throws  the  example  of  his  copy  book  to 
the  winds  and  composes  a  note  to  one  of  his  friends  in  a 
rapid,  scrawling  hand.  The  child  has  become  an  independ- 
ent master  of  writing  for  his  own  private  purposes.  So  it  is 
with  his  other  activities.  Even  in  social  matters  he  asserts  his 
independence  by  refusing  to  follow  the  dictates  of  the  teacher. 
School  discipline  suddenly  comes  to  be  a  serious  problem. 

The  change  here  described  reflects  itself  in  a  fact  of 
administration  which  is  of  frequent  recurrence.  Pupils  fail 
of  promotion  in  the  fourth  or  fifth  grade  much  more  com- 
monly than  in  the  second,  third,  or  sixth.  In  other  words, 
there  is  here,  just  after  the  primary  grades,  a  period  of 
violent  readjustment. 

The  readjustment  which  comes  at  this  point  can  be 
described  by  saying  that  the  pupil  is  entering  on  a  period  of 
self-recognition.  The  primary  child  is  an  imitator  absorbed 
in  social  examples.  The  intermediate  child  is  an  individ- 
ualist. He  is  aware  of  his  own  powers  and  ambitions.  The 
boys  of  this  period  have  been  described  as  young  barbarians. 
They  are  disregardful  of  the  rights  of  others.  They  step 
on  the  little  children  ;  they  refuse  to  be  friends  with  the 
girls.  They  are  ambitious  to  leave  school  and  do  something 
to  assert  their  independence. 

The  school  has  dealt  with  this  period  with  much  less 
intelligence  than  it  has  exhibited  in  the  primary  years.  In 


190     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

general,  the  intermediate  grades  have  followed  in  subject- 
matter  and  in  methods  too  closely  the  example  of  the 
successful  primary  grades.  The  result  appears  in  the  fact 
that  the  migration  out  of  elerpentary  schools  is  very  com- 
mon in  the  fifth  and  sixth  grades.  The  intermediate  grades 
have  been  described  as  periods  of  drill.  If  there  is  one 
kind  of  work  that  is  not  appropriate  here,  it  is  routine  drill. 
There  ought  to  be  a  new  and  thoroughgoing  study  of  the 
needs  of  this  period  and  the  introduction  of  a  type  of 
instruction  which  will  meet  the  needs  of  children  who  are 
vividly  aware  of  themselves  and  of  their  personal  relations 
to  the  world. 

That  a  change  is  coming  about  in  the  methods  of  dealing 
with  pupils  in  these  years  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the 
elementary  school  is  setting  apart  the  fourth,  fifth,  and 
sixth  grades  as  the  years  in  which  the  strictly  elementary 
work  is  to  be  completed.  Much  that  was  postponed  to  the 
seventh  and  eighth  grades  under  the  older  form  of  organ- 
ization will  doubtless  be  brought  down  into  the  intermediate 
grades.  The  children  will  no  longer  be  drilled  in  the  forms 
of  the  social  arts  while  waiting  for  the  enlarged  opportunities 
of  the  upper  grades,  but  will  be  introduced  at  once  to  expe- 
riences with  the  objects  of  the  physical  world.  They  will  be 
encouraged  to  see  things  and  handle  them  for  themselves. 

EARLY  ADOLESCENCE  AS  A  PERIOD  OF  SOCIAL 
CONSCIOUSNESS 

The  close  of  this  period  of  individualism  is  marked  by 
physical  and  mental  changes  of  a  very  definite  and  signifi- 
cant type.  From  twelve  years  on  the  child  begins  to  realize 
anew  the  social  world  about  him.  Physical  changes  are 
going  on  within  him  that  stimulate  this  type  of  thought. 
The  literature  of  education  has  emphasized  the  fact  that  at 
this  period  there  is  a  maturing  of  the  sex  organs  and  an 


PERIODICITY  IN  PUPIL'S  DEVELOPMENT     191 

accompanying  development  of  feelings  and  interests  in  the 
opposite  sex.  There  has  been  doubtless  an  overemphasis 
on  the  sexual  characteristics  of  this  period.  The  fact  is 
that  a  profound  general  physical  and  mental  change  is 
going  forward. 

On  the  physical  side  the  organism  which  has  been 
accumulating  powers  through  its  mastery  of  the  fundamental 
processes  of  life  is  now  ready  for  its  last  large  development. 
We  shall  understand  the  meaning  of  this  statement  only 
when  we  realize  that  the  organism  has  to  cultivate  a  whole 
series  of  internal  habits  in  order  that  it  may  be  internally 
harmonious.  The  little  child  is  easily  disturbed,  for  example, 
in  his  digestion.  This  means  that  the  habits  of  digestion 
are  not  established.  The  immature  nervous  organism  of  the 
pupil  needs  training  to  bring  it  to  the  point  where  digestion 
will  go  forward  without  interruption  or  distraction.  The 
same  is  true  of  circulation  and  respiration.  The  organism 
has  to  learn  to  live.  The  school  period  is  a  period  of  mas- 
tery of  these  internal  processes  quite  as  much  as  a  period 
of  intellectual  training. 

At  about  twelve  years  of  age  the  inner  coordination  is 
reaching  its  consummation.  If  one  were  to  select  for  dis- 
cussion the  most  significant  physical  fact  that  marks  this 
period,  one  would  lay  stress  on  the  development  of  the  heart. 
This  organ  grows  rapidly  in  size  and  strength.  Its  more 
vigorous  action  raises  the  blood  pressure  throughout  the 
body.  Organs  which  have  been  slow  in  their  development 
now  grow  rapidly.  The  whole  life  of  the  individual  is  in- 
tensified. It  is  not  alone  the  sex  organs  which  mature  ;  the 
nervous  system  acts  with  greater  energy,  and  the  muscular 
system  develops.  In  short,  a  period  of  the  most  active 
life  sets  in. 

The  physical  vigor  of  the  twelve-year-old  and  the  thirteen- 
year-old  child  is  only  part  of  the  explanation  of  the  charac- 
teristic intellectual  temper  of  this  period.  Just  prior  to  this 


192     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

period  the  child,  as  we  have  seen,  passes  through  an  era 
of  marked  individualism.  The  unsocial  tendencies  of  that 
period  bring  disappointments  and  new  lessons,  and  finally 
the  child  is  ready  for  a  renewal  of  his  contacts  with  the 
social  group.  He  cannot  now  be  purely  imitative  as  was 
the  primary  child,  for  he  has  gained  self-consciousness. 
He  cannot  be  content  with  pure  individualism,  because  his 
experience  has  broadened  so  that  he  sees  his  dependence 
on  others.  A  new  social  era  opens.  With  self-consciousness 
and  with  a  desire  to  get  back  into  society  by  accepting  its 
ways  and  complying  with  its  demands,  the  adolescent  seeks, 
albeit  somewhat  clumsily,  a  new  contact  with  his  fellows. 
The  awkwardness  of  this  period,  its  lack  of  self-assurance, 
its  eagerness  for  social  recognition,  are  all  perfectly  clear  to 
the  student  of  human  nature  who  has  analyzed  the  case 
of  a  twelve-year-old  pupil. 

THE  NEW  SCHOOL  ADAPTED  TO  ADOLESCENCE 

Has  the  school  met  the  legitimate  demand  for  a  suitable 
education  of  the  adolescent  ?  The  answer  is  that  the  school 
has  been  slow  in  meeting  this  situation.  The  archaic  form 
of  school  organization  which  attached  the  seventh  and 
eighth  grades  to  the  elementary  school  has  hindered  greatly 
a  proper  recognition  of  the  special  needs  of  adolescence. 
The  child  of  twelve  or  thirteen  does  not  need  a  review  of 
the  elementary  work  so  much  as  a  preparation  for  the  active 
life  of  adulthood.  The  adolescent  needs  to  be  given  an 
insight  into  the  organization  of  society.  He  needs  to  be 
brought  into  contact  with  the  ways  and  languages  of  other 
peoples.  Fortunately,  the  keener  educational  insights  of 
the  present  day  are  bringing  us  to  a  recognition  of  these 
needs.  The  school  for  the  adolescent  is  beginning  to  emerge 
out  of  the  current  reorganizations  of  the  seventh  and 
eighth  grades. 


PERIODICITY  IN  PUPIL'S   DEVELOPMENT     193 

In  many  schools  these  two  grades  have  been  gradually 
separating  from  the  rest  of  the  elementary  grades.  The 
teaching  has  been  organized  on  the  departmental  plan ; 
that  is,  a  number  of  special  teachers,  each  dealing  with  a 
single  subject,  replace  the  single  teacher  who  has  charge 
of  the  whole  curriculum  in  the  lower  grades.  Furthermore, 
the  curriculum  has  been  enlarged.  Manual  arts  and  house- 
hold science  have  been  introduced  and,  in  some  cases,  other 

f 

subjects  which  were  formerly  offered  only  in  the  high 
school.  A  new  type  of  school,  including  the  seventh,  eighth, 
and  ninth  grades  and  known  as  the  junior  high  school  or 
the  intermediate  school,  is  appearing. 

Where  these  and  like  changes  have  not  been  made  in 
the  seventh  and  eighth  grades,  criticism  has  made  itself 
increasingly  heard  because  the  pupils  do  not  get  ahead  in 
these  grades.  The  reviews  which  are  sometimes  carried  on 
at  great  length  in  preparation  for  promotion  into  the  high 
school  are  a  waste  of  time  and  energy  and  leave  the  pupils 
without  enthusiasm  for  school  work  and  without  habits  of 
concentration. 

In  an  earlier  chapter  it  was  shown  that  the  seventh  and 
eighth  grades  came  from  Europe  during  the  decade  1840- 
1850.  Every  line  of  evidence  which  is  taken  up  points 
to  the  desirability  of  a  complete  reorganization  of  the  work 
of  these  grades. 

The  spread  of  the  junior-high-school  idea  has  been  re- 
markably rapid.  This  is  due  to  the  growing  conviction  that 
pupils  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades  require  a  higher 
type  of  instruction  and  discipline  than  that  which  is  supplied 
in  the  lower  grades.  The  curriculum  is  being  enriched  by 
the  addition  of  science,  foreign  language,  mathematics  other 
than  arithmetic,  and  several  of  the  practical  arts.  Instruction 
is  being  intrusted  to  teachers  of  broader  training,  and  the 
individual  needs  of  pupils  are  being  more  adequately  met 
by  the  introduction  of  some  elective  courses. 


194     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

LATER  ADOLESCENCE  A  PERIOD  OF  SPECIALIZATION 

The  early  part  of  the  adolescent  period  which  has  been 
under  consideration  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs  is  followed 
by  a  period  which  can  be  described  as  the  beginning  of 
specialization.  The  fact  that  individual  differences  here 
assert  themselves  and  that  individual  outlooks  determine 
the  training  demanded  is  clearly  recognized  in  the  adoption 
of  the  elective  system  by  the  high  school.  Special  education 
has  an  adequate  foundation  in  the  work  of  the  earlier  years, 
and  now  the  student  must  build  his  individual  career  on 
this  foundation.  He  comes  to  a  new  period  of  individualism. 
He  is  not  individualistic  in  the  sense  in  which  the  fourth- 
grade  boy  is  when  he  breaks  away  from  imitating  social  ex- 
amples. The  boy  of  fifteen  to  eighteen  has  passed  through 
the  first  period  of  individualism  and  through  the  socializing 
training  of  early  adolescence  ;  he  now  comes  to  a  new  type 
of  individualistic  effort  which  will  fit  him  for  his  place  in 
the  social  system. 

The  upper  limit  of  this  period,  as  set  down  in  the  fore- 
going discussions,  coincides  with  the  age  at  which  a  normal 
student  is  now  supposed  to  finish  high  school.  There  can 
be  very  little  doubt  that  with  the  readjustments  going  on  in 
the  seventh  and  eighth  grades  there  will  be  far-reaching 
changes  in  the  upper  high  school  also.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  expect  that  with  improved  methods  of  teaching  and  with 
a  better  curriculum  it  will  be  possible  for  the  normal  stu- 
dent to  complete  at  eighteen  years  of  age  the  first  two  years 
of  the  college  curriculum.  The  complete  reorganization  of 
the  higher  institutions  is  thus  likely  to  follow  the  changes 
which  are  now  under  way  in  the  high  school. 

The  freshman  and  sophomore  years  of  American  colleges 
are  at  present  filled  with  subjects  which  are  essentially 
secondary  in  character.  The  reorganization  suggested  is 
therefore  altogether  legitimate. 


PERIODICITY  IN  PUPIL'S   DEVELOPMENT     195 

THE  REORGANIZED  SCHOOL  SYSTEM 

The  scheme  of  school  organization  which  is  in  keeping 
with  the  foregoing  study  of  mental  development  is  as  fol- 
lows :  Three  primary  years  are  to  be  devoted  to  the  rudi- 
ments of  the  social  arts.  Three  intermediate  years  following 
the  primary  are  to  be  devoted  to  gaining  an  outlook  on  the 
world.  Three  years  covering  the  period  now  covered  by 
grades  seven,  eight,  and  nine  are  to  be  devoted  to  social 
studies  and  a  systematization  of  knowledge  of  the  world. 
The  three  years  from  fifteen  to  eighteen  are  to  be  devoted 
to  a  completion  of  general  training  and  to  the  beginning  of 
specialization.  After  this  will  come  complete  specialization. 

Not  all  students  can  go  through  the  full  training  thus 
outlined.  More  and  more,  however,  communities  will  pro- 
vide for,  and  require  the  completion  of,  the  whole  cycle.  If 
a  student's  training  must  be  curtailed,  there  will  doubtless  be 
an  increasing  tendency  to  bring  the  higher  stages  down  rather 
than  to  terminate  education  before  preparation  for  life  has 
been  carried  far  enough  to  give  specialized  individual  training. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

Considering  the  kindergarten  and  the  first  grade  in  the  light  of 
the  discussions  of  this  chapter,  what  are  the  characteristics  of 
pupils  which  justify  placing  them  in  the  one  or  the  other  ?  What 
is  the  present  rule  with  regard  to  this  placing  ?  Should  there  be 
any  systematic  education  of  children  in  the  home  ?  If  so,  along 
what  lines  ? 

Make  a  detailed  catalogue  of  the  kinds  of  ability,  both  physical 
and  mental,  exhibited  by  a  group  of  pupils  in  the  first  grade,  and 
then  attempt,  by  contrasting  a  third-grade  group,  to  determine 
what  pupils  acquire  in  the  primary  years.  Which  of  the  new 
characteristics  noted  are  consciously  sought  by  the  school  ? 

What  kind  of  reading  matter  should  be  offered  to  pupils  in  the 
fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  grades  ?  What  grade  of  experience  is 
required  of  teachers  in  the  middle  grades  ? 


196     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

What  readjustments  is  the  student  called  on  to  make  as  he 
passes  from  elementary  school  to  high  school  ?  from  high  school 
to  college  ?  Do  the  institutions  concerned  put  forth  any  effort  to 
help  the  student  in  making  these  transitions  ? 

When  should  formal  education  stop  ?  Should  pupils  be  given  a 
course  in  the  methods  of  educating  themselves  ?  If  so,  at  what 
school  period  ? 

Show  in  terms  of  earlier  chapters  what  are  the  forces  making 
for  reorganization  of  the  school  system  and  the  forces  opposing 
this  reorganization. 

AMES,  E.  S.  Psychology  of  Religious  Experience.  Houghton  Mifflin 
Company.  Like  other  books  on  the  psychology  of  religion,  this  calls 
attention  to  the  great  importance  of  the  changes  that  come  with 
adolescence. 

HALL,  G.  S.  Adolescence.  D.  Appleton  and  Company.  This  is  a  some- 
what erratic  and  often  purely  hypothetical  description  of  the  develop- 
ment of  pupils  at  the  beginning  of  the  high-school  age.  It  called 
attention,  however,  to  the  importance  of  the  period  and  marked 
an  epoch  in  the  development  of  educational  theory. 

HALL,  G.  S.  Youth.  D.  Appleton  and  Company.  A  brief  summary 
based  on  the  foregoing. 

KIRKPATRICK,  E.  A.  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study.  The  Macmillan 
Company.  This  is  the  best  summary  of  the  child-study  movement. 
It  offers  a  treatment  of  the  different  periods  of  a  child's  life  some- 
what different  from  that  in  the  text. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
SYSTEMATIC  STUDIES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM 

THE  CURRICULUM  BASED  ON  AUTHORITY  VERSUS 
THE  LIVING  CURRICULUM 

The  six  preceding  chapters,  which  have  dealt  with  the 
curriculum,  make  no  pretense  of  presenting  formulated 
courses  which  can  be  given  to  classes.  Some  reader  may 
have  been  impatient  because  he  did  not  find  there  an  out- 
line of  arithmetic  or  geography  or  Latin  or  English.  It 
has  been  the  purpose  of  these  chapters  to  deal  only  with 
general  principles  and  general  problems.  The  fact  is  that 
it  would  be  absolutely  futile  to  lay  down  a  curriculum  and 
say  of  it  that  it  is  the  true  curriculum.  The  curriculum  of 
a  school  is  a  living  thing.  It  is  constantly  undergoing  read- 
justments. Its  content  is  drawn  from  the  social  life  to 
which  it  introduces  pupils,  and  its  arrangement  depends  on 
the  ability  of  pupils  of  different  ages  and  different  capacities 
to  grasp  this  constantly  readjusted  content. 

There  are  some  teachers  who  prefer  to  have  the  course 
of  study  handed  down  to  them  by  some  superior  authority. 
There  are  many  fifth-grade  teachers,  for  example,  who  pre- 
fer to  have  the  superintendent  tell  them  just  how  many 
pages  of  geography  to  cover  each  week  and  how  many 
minutes  to  devote  to  this  subject.  There  are  many  I^atin 
teachers  who  are  satisfied  to  take  from  some  college  catalogue 
a  statement  of  the  number  of  pages  to  be  read  in  Ca\sar, 
to  divide  this  number  by  the  number  of  days  during  which 
the  class  meets,  and  then  to  plod  through  the  assignments. 
The  day  of  such  teachers,  unfortunately,  is  not  yet  past,  but 

'97 


198     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

it  is  passing.  The  course  in  geography  or  Latin  is  not  a  quan- 
titative matter ;  it  is  not  a  static  affair ;  it  is  an  organized 
body  of  material  which  grows  and  changes  with  the  develop- 
ment of  society.  To  the  intelligent  teacher  a  course  of  study 
is  a  subject  of  constant  scrutiny  and  revision.  Every  detail 
must  be  weighed  as  to  its  importance  and  as  to  its  relations 
to  the  whole  series  of  topics  and  to  the  needs  of  pupils. 


OLDER  SUBJECTS  PRODUCTS  OF  LONG  SELECTION 

Efficient  teachers  have  always  assumed  toward  the  subject- 
matter  of  their  courses  an  attitude  of  the  type  described. 
As  a  result  there  has  been  in  every  generation  of  schools 
some  progress  in  organizing  courses.  Little  by  little  experi- 
ence has  refined  the  practices  of  schools.  Take,  for  exam- 
ple, Latin  or  any  of  the  older  subjects.  Countless  teachers 
have  contributed  to  the  organization  of  this  subject.  There 
is  very  little  probability  that  pupils  will  encounter  in  first- 
year  Latin  anything  that  they  ought  not  to  be  asked  to  learn, 
because  the  details  have  been  tried  out  on  successive  gener- 
ations of  learners,  and  only  that  has  been  retained  in  first- 
year  Latin  which  can  be  taught  in  that  year.  In  the  newer 
subjects,  on  the  contrary,  there  is  the  greatest  uncertainty. 
In  his  enthusiasm  for  the  new  ideas  which  come  to  his  own 
mind,  the  teacher  of  biology  rushes  forward  to  generaliza- 
tions which  are  too  mature  for  his  first-year  classes.  The 
subject-matter  will  have  to  be  tried  out  and  sifted  before  it 
is  as  well  selected  as  is  the  course  in  Latin.  The  teachers 
of  the  new  subjects  will  inevitably  pass  through  a  series  of  the 
same  kind  of  sifting  processes  through  which  the  teachers 
of  Latin  have  passed.  Even  when  some  of  the  problems  thus 
arising  are  settled,  the  new  subjects  will  still  be  difficult  of 
organization.  Thus  biology  is  changing  by  virtue  of  the 
evolution  of  the  science  at  a  rate  which  complicates  the  case 
very  much  more  than  it  can  ever  be  complicated  in  Latin. 


STUDIES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  199 

SOCIAL  NEEDS  AND  THE  CURRICULUM 

Further  evidence  that  the  curriculum  is  a  living,  changing 
institution  is  seen  in  the  way  in  which  courses  are  related 
to  social  demands.  There  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  the 
secondary  school  and  college  when  the  course  in  Hebrew  was 
regarded  as  universally  desirable  for  every  student  of  the 
social  group  which  attended  these  institutions.  That  was 
in  the  period  when  the  group  was  of  a  definitely  vocational 
composition.  For  example,  in  the  early  days  of  Harvard 
College  70  per  cent  of  its  graduates  entered  the  ministry, 
and  Hebrew  was  a  requirement.  The  later  history  of  the 
student  body  explains  why  the  requirement  of  Hebrew 
became  obsolete.  Two  paragraphs  from  a  recent  bulletin  of 
the  Bureau  of  Education  give  some  of  the  facts  as  follows : 

From  this  it  is  apparent  that  those  who  founded  the  institution 
primarily  had  in  mind  a  theological  seminary.  The  professions  of 
the  graduates  for  the  early  period  bear  witness  to  the  fact  that  this 
was  practically  what  the  institution  was.  The  ministry  was  the  one 
profession  most  necessary,  most  demanded  by  the  society  of  that 
time,  and  this  profession  more  than  any  other  required  an  ad 
vanced  education.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  find  this 
profession  dominant  during  the  early  years  of  Harvard's  history. 
This  dominance  continues  for  over  a  century,  and  not  until  the 
period  immediately  following  the  Revolutionary  War  docs  any 
other  profession  claim  so  many  of  the  graduates  as  the  ministry. 

The  curve  representing  this  profession  has  three  distinct  tend- 
encies. The  first  part,  extending  from  1642,  the  date  of  the  first 
graduating  class,  to  1720,  is  slightly  downward,  with  rather  wide 
variation.  This  stretch  of  80  years  shows  a  decline  from  70  per 
cent  for  the  first  three  years,  a  percentage  never  again  reached,  to 
60  per  cent  for  the  last  five-year  period.  The  second  tendency  is 
seen  in  the  period  of  theological  unrest,  marked  off  roughly  by  the 
years  1720-1775.  Here  the  downward  tendency  is  clearly  defined. 
It  shows  a  decline  from  60  per  cent  to  less  than  20  per  cent.  The 
variations  during  this  period  are  not  so  marked.  The  third  tendency 
extends  from  the  Revolutionary  War  to  the  present.  This  shows 


200     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

a  slow,  persistent  relative  decline  reaching  well  below  5  per  cent 
by  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  variations  during  this 
period,  particularly  during  the  last  half,  are  inconspicuous.1 

SYSTEMATIC  STUDIES  AS  DEVICES  FOR  FACILITATING 
EVOLUTION  OF  THE  CURRICULUM 

The  effect  of  this  and  like  radical  social  changes  is  some- 
times slow  in  actually  modifying  the  curriculum  because  of 
the  conservative  tendencies  discussed  in  earlier  chapters. 
But  the  final  effect  is  inevitable.  The  changing  social  order 
carries  with  it  the  school  and  its  subjects  of  instruction. 

The  characteristic  fact  about  the  present  generation  of 
progressive  educators  is  that  they  are  undertaking  certain 
studies  which  are  designed  to  hasten  the  processes  of  selec- 
tion. The  curriculum  is  to  be  modified  and  improved,  with 
every  new  accession  of  knowledge  and  with  every  new 
evolution  in  social  life.  How  the  improvement  can  be 
brought  about  most  expeditiously  and  most  productively  is 
a  problem  which  is  engaging  much  of  the  attention  and 
energy  of  school  officers. 

It  will  be  noted  that  there  is  no  opposition  between  the 
natural  tendencies  of  growth  and  revision  and  the  special 
investigations  which  are  intended  to  hasten  the  process  of 
adjustment.  The  purpose  of  scientific  studies  here,  as  in 
every  other  sphere,  is  to  facilitate  natural  evolution  and  to 
give  it  rational  guidance. 

A  STUDY  OF  REPRESENTATIVE  ADULTS 

One  of  the  first  methods  of  studying  the  curriculum  is  that 
of  investigating  the  relation  between  school  work  and  the 
demands  of  later  life.  The  following  description  of  a  study 
made  as  part  of  a  school  survey  teaches  some  very  impressive 
lessons  on  the  need  of  revision  in  the  elementary  curriculum : 

1  Bailey  B.  Burritt,  "  Professional  Distribution  of  College  and  University 
Graduates,"  p.  1 5.  Bulletin  No.  79,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  1912. 


STUDIES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  2OI 

The  most  serious  defect  of  the  present  course  of  study,  includ- 
ing some  of  the  suggested  revisions  now  under  consideration,  is 
that  it  makes  thousands  of  children  waste  tens  of  thousands  of 
precious  hours  in  the  laborious  acquisition  of  facts  for  which  they 
will  never  have  any  practical  use.  While  the  survey  was  under 
way  the  staff  attempted  to  test  the  practical  value  of  some  of  the 
subject  matter  taught  to  children  in  the  elementary  grades. 

For  this  purpose  short  examinations  were  prepared  from  the 
material  prescribed  by  the  course  of  study  and  actually  being 
taught  in  the  upper  grades  in  spelling,  arithmetic,  history,  and 
geography.  Through  the  cooperation  of  a  woman  prominent  in 
social  and  intellectual  circles  of  the  city,  1 1  of  the  leading  suc- 
cessful citizens  were  brought  together  one  evening  and  asked  to 
take  these  examinations.  The  object  was  to  find  out  whether  or 
not  the  material  that  the  children  of  the  upper  grades  were  being 
taught  was  of  the  sort  actually  used  by  able  men  of  affairs  in  the 
conduct  of  their  daily  business.  For  carrying  out  the  test  the  most 
prominent  and  successful  citizens  were  purposely  chosen  and  in 
making  up  the  examinations  the  most  difficult  material  was  pur- 
posely selected.  The  result  of  these  examinations  in  spelling,  geog- 
raphy, arithmetic,  and  history  of  the  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh  grades 
was  that  no  one  of  the  men  examined  made  a  passing  mark  in  any 
subject.  The  reason  is  that  the  material  on  which  they  were  exam- 
ined, and  which  the  children  in  the  schools  are  daily  learning, 
is  of  a  sort  that  is  seldom  or  never  met  with  in  the  business  of 
even  the  most  successful  men  engaged  in  commercial  and  profes- 
sional pursuits.  The  gentlemen  who  submitted  to  the  examination 
were  the  following : 

A  state  senator 

A  former  lieutenant  governor 

The  president  of  a  manufacturing  concern 

The  former  superintendent  of  parks 

A  banker 

A  physician 

A  merchant 

A  lawyer 

A  newspaper  editor 

An  efficiency  engineer  and  a  clergyman 


202     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

The  test  in  spelling  consisted  of  ten  words  taken  from  the  spell- 
ing lists  of  the  seventh  grade.  These  words  were  as  follows : 

1 .  abutilon  6.  reconnoissance 

2.  bergamot  7.  erysipelas 

3.  deutzia  8.  mnemonics 

4.  daguerreotype  9.  trichinae 

5.  paradigm  10.  weigelia 

Among  the  1 1  men  taking  the  examination,  one  spelled  six  of 
these  words  correctly.  Three  succeeded  in  spelling  four  words, 
two  got  three  words  right,  one  got  two,  three  spelled  one  word 
correctly,  and  one  failed  on  every  word.  It  is  not  surprising  that 
they  failed  so  completely  for  no  citizen  in  any  ordinary  walk  of 
life  needs  to  know  how  to  spell  these  words.  When  the  rare  occa- 
sion arises  that  he. needs  to  write  one  of  them,  he  looks  it  up  in 
the  dictionary.  These  words  and  scores  of  words  like  them  are 
studied  in  the  classrooms  as  well  as  found  in  the  spelling  book. 

The  test  described  above  was  suggested  by  the  experience  of 
the  director  of  the  survey  who  went  into  a  sixth  grade  room  where 
an  examination  in  spelling  was  being  given.  He  took  the  test  with 
the  children.  It  consisted  of  20  words,  and  he  failed  on  six  of 
them.  These  six  words  are  included  in  the  ten-word  list  used  in 
the  examination  of  the  business  and  professional  men.  Some  of 
the  children  in  the  schools  can  spell  these  words  correctly  but 
while  they  are  laboriously  learning  to  do  it,  many  of  them  are  still 
unable  to  spell  short  and  common  words  as  "which,"  "separate," 
and  "receive."1 

A  STUDY  OF  CURRENT  REFERENCES 

Another  method  of  comparing  school  courses  with  com- 
mon social  needs  is  set  forth  in  the  following  quotation  : 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Committee  on  Economy  of  Time  held  in 
the  fall  of  1912  it  was  suggested  that  current  literature  could  be 
profitably  employed  as  a  standard  for  determining  the  kind  of 

1  Survey  conducted  by  L.  P.  Ayres  of  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation. 
"The  Public  Schools  of  Springfield,  Illinois,"  pp.  86-88.  Published  by  the 
Springfield  Survey  Committee,  Springfield,  Illinois,  1914. 


STUDIES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  203 

geographical  information  that  the  school  should  provide.  The  pro- 
posal was  to  read  current  newspapers  and  magazines,  record  the 
geographical  references,  and  determine  from  the  frequency  of  these 
references  the  relative  value  of  the  various  types  of  geographical 
information.  Results  of  the  application  of  the  method  presented  at 
the  meeting  seemed  to  indicate  that  the  content  of  geography  as 
now  taught  in  the  elementary  school  would  be  greatly  modified  if 
materials  were  chosen  upon  this  basis.  .  .  . 

Miss  Biester  collected  and  classified  the  geographical  and  histori- 
cal references  and  allusions  in  eighteen  issues  of  the  Outlook  and 
the  Literary  Digest,  representing  a  period  of  seven  years  ending 
with  1913.  She  found  in  these  eighteen  journals  a  total  of  2,237 
geographical  references.  The  distribution  was  as  follows : 

PER  CENT 

References  to  facts  of  location,  size,  direction,  etc.,  which 
may  be  assumed  to  require  for  their  understanding  a 
knowledge  of  "  place  and  location"  geography  .  .  53.5 

References  to  political  divisions  and  facts  of  government 
which  may  be  assumed  to  require  a  knowledge  of 
"political"  geography 25.1 

References  to  industries,  commerce,  products,  etc.,  which 
may  be  assumed  to  require  a  knowledge  of  "  commer- 
cial "  geography 5.8 

References  to  people,  customs,  religion,  education,  etc., 
which  may  be  assumed  to  require  a  knowledge  of 
"  social "  geography 4.8 

References  to  places  as  scenes  of  historical  events,  whicli 
may  be  assumed  to  require  a  knowledge  of "  historical " 
geography 1.7 

Other  references  primarily  of  local  or  transitory  interest       8.9 

A  grouping  of  this  sort  is  obviously  subject  to  the  errors  or 
peculiarities  of  individual  judgment,  but  it  may  be  said  that  the 
classification  just  presented  is  quite  consistent  with  those  furnished 
by  other  readers.  Except  for  the  absence  of  explicit  reference  to 
physiographical  principles,  this  grouping  represents  fairly  accurately 
the  distribution  of  emphasis  in  the  textbooks  ordinarily  used  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth  grades.  The  physiographical  principles,  how- 
ever, are  precisely  the  "  general  "  principles  to  which  we  referred 


204     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

above ;  that  is,  their  function  is  broadly  interpretive  and  adaptive ; 
they  "cover"  a  host  of  particulars  too  numerous  in  the  aggregate, 
and  too  insignificant  separately,  to  warrant  specific  attention. 

Another  suggestive  grouping  is  based  upon  the  frequency  of 
references  to  the  various  continents.  If  one  is  to  read  intelligently 
the  journals  which  formed  the  basis  of  this  test,  one  will  find  occa- 
sion to  apply  one's  knowledge  of  the  continents  in  approximately 
the  following  proportions  (the  maximum  frequency  of  reference 
being  represented  arbitrarily  by  i  oo) : 

North  America      ....      100      Africa 4 

Europe 73       South  America 3 

Asia 13       Australia I 

The  principal  European  countries  had  an  importance  for  the 
readers  of  the  journals  in  question  in  the  following  proportions 
(giving  England,  as  the  country  most  frequently  referred  to,  the 
arbitrary  value  of  i  oo)  : 1 

England 100  Italy 32 

France 80  Turkey 30 

Germany 70  Austria-Hungary     ....  24 

Russia 35  Spain 22 

A  STUDY  OF  THE  MISTAKES  OF  PUPILS 

It  is  not  merely  the  remoter  needs  of  adult  life  which 
should  be  taken  into  account  in  determining  the  content 
of  courses  of  study.  Pupils  in  schools  have  certain  urgent 
needs  which  should  be  met.  A  study  was  carried  on  in  the 
schools  of  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  which  dealt  with  the  needs 
of  pupils  in  grammar.  Teachers  observed  and  noted  the 
mistakes  of  pupils,  and  collected  a  body  of  written  material 
which  was  carefully  analyzed.  The  urgent  needs  of  pupils 
were  readily  discovered  and  were  found  to  be  comparatively 
few.  The  following  quotations  give  the  gist  of  the  matter : 

1 W.  C.  Bagley,  "  The  Determination  of  Minimum  Essentials  in  Ele- 
mentary Geography  and  History."  Fourteenth  Yearbook  of  the  National 
Society  for  the  Study  of  Education,  Part  I,  pp.  131,  134-135.  The  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago  Press,  1915. 


STUDIES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  205 

Table  M,  which  is  based  upon  the  oral  and  written  errors  of 
the  children  of  the  community,  displays  the  items  to  be  included  in 
a  course  of  study  for  the  elementary  grades.  It  assumes  that  all 
types  of  error  were  found  and  reported.  That  this  assumption  is 
absolutely  correct  is  not  probable.  That  it  is  approximately  correct 
seems  reasonably  certain.  To  verify  its  accuracy  further  other 
studies  would  need  to  be  made  in  Kansas  City. 

As  the  present  course  of  study  in  grammar  in  the  sixth  and  in 
the  seventh  grades  of  the  Kansas  City  schools  was  materially  sim- 
plified in  the  1913-1914  session,  it  is  now  one  of  the  simplest  in 
the  United  States.  Notwithstanding  this  fact,  many  items  would 
be  omitted  from  it  upon  the  basis  of  Table  K.  These  are  included 
in  Table  L.  The  pages  refer  to  "  Grammar  and  Composition  with 
Practical  English,"  by  Robins,  Row,  and  Scott  (Row,  Peterson  & 
Company,  Chicago),  the  text  now  in  use  in  the  sixth  and  seventh 
grades. 

TABLE  M 

OMISSIONS  FROM  AND  ADDITIONS  TO  THE  PKKSEXT  ELEMENTARY 
COURSE  OK  STUDY  IN  GRAMMAR  IN  KANSAS  CITY 

Omissions  : 

1.  Exclamatory  sentence,  p.  2. 

2.  The  interjection,  pp.  1 6  f . 

3.  The  appositive,  pp.  37  ff. 

4.  The  nominative  of  address,  pp.  39  f. 

5.  The  nominative  by  exclamation,  pp.  40  f. 

6.  The  objective  complement,  pp.  53  f. 

7.  The  adverbial  objective,  pp.  56  f. 

8.  The  indefinite  pronouns,  pp.  69  f. 

9.  The  objective  complement,  p.  91. 

10.  The  objective  used  as  a  substantive,  p.  91. 

1 1.  The  classification  of  adverbs,  pp.  94  ff. 

12.  The  noun  clause,  pp.  107  ff. 

13.  Conjunctive  adverbs,  p.  116. 

14.  The  retained  objective,  pp.  128  f. 

15.  The    moods   (except    jxwsibly   the    subjunctive   of   /<>   //<•), 
pp.  135  ff.   and    152  ff. 

1 6.  The  infinitive  except  the  split  infinitive,  pp.  145  ff. 


206     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

17.  The  objective  subject,  pp.  149  f. 

1 8.  The  participle  except  the  definition  and  the  present  and  the 
past  forms,  pp.  162  ff. 

19.  The  nominative  absolute,  pp.  165  ff. 

20.  The  gerund,  pp.  168  f. 

Additions  : 

1.  The  pronoun  what. 

2.  Proper  and  numeral  adjectives. 

The  first,  second,  and  third  of  the  omissions  affect  punctuation; 
the  first  and  second,  the  exclamation  point;  and  the  third,  the 
comma.  The  exclamation  point  is  used  at  the  end  of  the  exclama- 
tory sentence  and  after  interjections  to  express  an  intensity  of 
feeling  greater  than  that  expressed  by  the  period,  and  it  is  doubt- 
ful if  children  have  the  nicety  of  experience  to  understand  the 
difference.  If  the  point  is  absent,  its  omission  cannot  be  counted 
as  an  error  because  the  reader  has  no  way  of  knowing  how  intense 
is  the  feeling  that  accompanied  the  sentence.  Strangely  enough, 
the  children  used  the  appositive  hardly  at  all.  Instead  of  saying, 
"  Bill,  the  bandit,  killed  a  deer,"  they  seem  to  prefer  to  say,  "  Bill 
was  a  bandit,  and  he  killed  a  deer." 

To  the  omissions,  tabulated  in  Table  M,  should  be  added  such 
sentences  for  analysis  and  parsing  as  are  given  to  children  solely 
because  they  involve  subtle  points  in  grammar.  This  is  true 
because  the  errors  made  by  children  seem  to  occur  in  the  com- 
moner and  more  easily  classified  constructions,  as  may  be  seen 
by  an  examination  of  Table  I. 

POSTSCRIPT 

The  content  of  the  course  of  study  in  elementary  grammar  in 
the  Kansas  City  schools  is  not  dealt  with  here.  The  problem  is 
simply  and  solely  to  find  out  what  the  course  of  study  would  be  if 
it  were  based  upon  the  errors  of  the  children.  The  problem  of  the 
content  of  the  course  of  study  requires  such  serious  consideration 
that  it  can  be  determined  only  by  practical  experience  and  opinion 
aided  by  other  scientifically  conditioned  studies.1 

1  W.  W.  Charters  and  Edith  Miller,  "  A  Course  of  Study  in  Grammar," 
pp.  43-45.  Bulletin  No.  2,  University  of  Missouri,  Vol.  XVI  (1915). 


STUDIES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  207 

PREREQUISITES  FOR  HIGHER  COURSES 

The  problem  of  finding  what  is  the  best  progression  of 
studies  within  the  curriculum  is  an  important  problem  on 
which  we  have  at  the  present  time  relatively  little  informa- 
tion. President  Lowell  of  Harvard  University  collected  some 
statistics  on  this  matter  which  can  be  briefly  summarized 
in  three  quotations  from  his  article  : 

Harvard  University  is  singularly  rich  in  material  for  determining 
the  relation  of  college  studies  to  the  work  of  the  professional 
schools,  because  nowhere  in  the  world  have  so  large  a  body  of 
undergraduates  been  so  free,  for  so  long  a  period,  as  in  Harvard 
College  to  study  whatever  they  chose,  and  to  make  any  combina- 
tion of  courses  they  pleased.  With  the  exception  of  one  required 
course  in  English,  and  sometimes  one  in  another  modern  language, 
the  election  of  courses  has  been  almost  wholly  free  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  and  in  fact  the  variety  of  combinations  made  has 
been  almost  limitless.  Moreover,  the  Law  and  Medical  Schools 
have  contained  a  large  number  of  graduates  of  Harvard  College, 
and  this  is  essential  for  a  fair  comparison  of  the  results.  .  .  . 

The  statistics  here  presented  cover,  therefore,  only  bachelors  of 
arts  of  Harvard  College  who  graduated  afterwards  from  the  Har- 
vard Law  and  Medical  Schools,  and  they  comprise  only  men  who 
took  twelve  courses,  or  nearly  three  years'  work,  in  the  college.  .  .  . 

If,  therefore,  one  can  draw  any  inference  from  figures  so  small, 
the  case  of  mathematics  is  singular.  Unless  some  other  element 
enters  into  the  problem,  such  as  an  unusually  high  standard  in 
the  department,  or  an  unusually  vigorous  intellectual  appetite  on 
the  part  of  students  who  elect  the  subject,  the  result  may  be  sup- 
posed to  indicate,  so  far  as  it  goes,  that  mathematics,  altho  rarely 
selected  for  the  purpose,  is  a  particularly  good  preparation  for  the 
study  of  law ;  perhaps  because  the  methods  of  thought  in  the  two 
subjects  are  more  nearly  akin  than  is  commonly  supposed. 

Leaving  aside  this  possibly  exceptional  case,  the  conclusions  to 
be  derived  from  the  facts  presented  in  this  paper  would  seem  to 
be  that,  as  a  preparation  for  the  study  of  law  or  medicine,  it  makes 
comparatively  little  difference  what  subject  is  mainly  pursued  in 


208     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

college,  but  that  it  makes  a  great  difference  with  what  intensity  the 
subject  is  pursued  —  or,  to  put  the  same  proposition  in  a  more 
technical  form,  familiarity  with  the  subject-matter,  which  can  be 
transferred  little,  if  at  all,  is  of  small  importance  in  a  college  edu- 
cation, as  compared  with  mental  processes  that  are  capable  of  being 
transferred  widely,  or  with  the  moral  qualities  of  diligence,  per- 
severance, and  intensity  of  application  which  can  be  transferred 
indefinitely.  The  practical  deduction  is  that  in  the  administration 
of  our  colleges,  and,  indeed,  in  all  our  general  education,  as  distin- 
guished from  direct  vocational  or  professional  training,  we  have 
laid  too  much  stress  on  the  subject,  too  little  on  the  excellence  of 
the  work  and  on  the  rank  attained.1 


ADMINISTRATIVE  STUDIES 

Other  studies  of  the  curriculum  have  been  made  which 
may  be  called  administrative  studies.  The  most  elaborate 
investigation  of  this  type  which  has  been  carried  out  is  re- 
ported in  a  volume  entitled  "The  Supervision  of  Arithmetic." 2 
Two  of  the  leading  students  of  the  science  of  education 
have  here  reported  an  exhaustive  study  of  the  practices  of 
various  school  systems  in  administering  the  arithmetic 
course.  At  the  same  time  they  have  made  an  analysis  of 
the  textbooks  which  are  commonly  used  in  administering 
this  course.  Finally,  they  have  supplemented  this  body  of 
fact  with  numerous  opinions  from  competent  school  people 
regarding  changes  which  ought  to  be  made. 

It  is  not  possible  to  take  up  in  detail  the  various  findings 
reported  in  this  volume.  One  especially  interesting  set  of 
facts,  however,  may  be  referred  to  as  furnishing  convincing 
evidence  that  the  school  curriculum  is  constantly  in  process 
of  revision.  The  particular  part  of  the  book  which  shows 
this  deals  with  the  number  of  hours  a  week  devoted  to 

1  A.  Lawrence  Lowell,  "  College  Studies  and  Professional  Training." 
Educational  Review,  Vol.  XLII  (October,  1911),  pp.  220,  221,  233. 

2  W.  A.  Jessup  and  L.  D.  Coffman.   The  Macmillan  Company,  1916. 


STUDIES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  209 

arithmetic  in  the  course  of  study  of  various  cities.  If  we 
compare  the  relative  amount  of  time  given  to  arithmetic  in 
earlier  years  and  at  present,  we  shall  have  some  indication 
of  the  movement  which  has  been  going  on  within  the  school 
curriculum.  In  1888  New  York  City  devoted  26  per  cent 
of  the  total  school  time  in  the  grades  to  arithmetic.  In 
1904  this  had  been  reduced  to  12  per  cent,  showing  that 
the  attention  to  arithmetic  is  in  point  of  time  less  than 
half  what  it  was  at  an  earlier  period.  Boston,  on  the  other 
hand,  devoted  to  arithmetic  almost  exactly  the  same  relative 
amount  of  time  in  1904  that  it  did  in  1888.  In  both  cases 
about  1 6  per  cent  of  the  time  of  the  course  of  study  was 
given  to  this  subject.  Chicago  shows  a  distinct  increase  in  the 
amount  of  time  given  to  arithmetic.  In  1888  it  was  giving 
9  per  cent  of  its  time  to  that  subject.  The  time  devoted  to 
arithmetic  in  1904  was  18  per  cent,  or  just  twice  as  much. 

These  statements  confirm  the  remark  repeatedly  made 
in  this  volume  that  the  course  of  study  is  constantly  under- 
going revision.  The  only  intelligent  way  for  the  school  sys- 
tem to  deal  with  the  problems  of  the  course  of  study  which 
are  sure  to  come  up  is  to  make  a  careful  examination  of 
the  movement  which  is  under  way,  for  this  movement  is 
usually  guided  by  the  personal  judgment  of  some  enthusi- 
astic school  officer  or  by  the  chance  readjustments  which 
arise  out  of  the  effort  to  bring  new  subjects  into  the  cur- 
riculum. The  result  is  a  blind  fluctuation,  the  magnitude 
and  importance  of  which  are  wholly  unrecognized  until 
exact  comparisons  are  set  up. 

Such  general  discussions  as  that  summarized  in  the  fore- 
going paragraphs  arc  supplemented  in  the  volume  referred 
to,  by  detailed  studies  of  such  questions  as  the  following : 
When  should  the  teaching  of  fractions  begin?  How  far 
should  the  elementary  course  deal  with  square  root  and  cube 
root  ?  What  are  the  characteristics  of  a  given  textbook  which 
make  it  available  for  a  particular  school  system  ? 


210     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

The  kind  of  study  which  is  here  reported  for  arithmetic 
should,  of  course,  be  made  for  other  subjects  as  well.  The 
time  allotment  for  the  course  in  geography  and  the  distri- 
bution'of  topics  within  that  course  are  quite  as  important 
as  the  time  allotment  in  arithmetic. 

NEED  OF  BROAD,  COOPERATIVE  STUDIES 

It  would  be  a  serious  mistake  to  advocate  any  one  of  the 
investigations  referred  to  in  this  chapter  as  the  sole  basis  for 
reform  in  the  curriculum.  There  must  be  a  broad  consider- 
ation of  social  and  educational  conditions  if  the  school  is  to 
arrange  its  materials  of  instruction  in  the  most  advantageous 
form.  Furthermore,  the  individual  teacher  cannot  make  all 
the  studies  involved.  The  problem  is  one  which  involves 
cooperation  and  the  organization  of  scientific  methods  which 
will  give  to  each  school  officer  the  benefit  of  the  experience 
of  many  schools. 

**       EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

The  best  type  of  exercise  which  can  be  suggested  in  connection 
with  this  chapter  is  the  analysis  of  a  series  of  textbooks  by  members 
of  the  class.  The  following  suggestions  will  aid  in  the  attack  on 
three  classes  of  texts  : 

First,  let  the  student  get  several  sets  of  readers,  beginning  with 
primers  and  running  up  to  the  books  designed  for  the  upper  grades. 
Note  among  other  characteristics  such  matters  as  the  following : 
Are  the  selections  in  the  primers  equally  interesting?  Are  the 
vocabularies  the  same  ?  What  devices  in  the  primer  are  adopted 
as  aids  in  explaining  the  words  ?  Are  the  sentences  of  equal  length  ? 
In  the  readers  for  the  upper  grades  is  the  emphasis  on  poetry  the 
same?  Is  the  reading  matter  equally  appropriate  for  boys  and 
girls  ?  Does  it  fit  all  localities  equally  well  ?  Is  there  any  sugges- 
tion that  would  carry  the  pupil  out  of  the  book  itself  to  other  books  ? 

Second,  let  the  student  take  several  geographies.  Are  the  maps 
equally  good  ?  Are  the  pictures  equally  helpful  ?  What  is  the  order 


STUDIES  OF  THE  CURRICULUM  21 1 

of  topics  ?  Is  the  treatment  equally  detailed  in  the  various  books  ? 
Is  the  attention  given  to  the  United  States  satisfactory  both  in 
point  of  gross  volume  and  in  point  of  details  taken  up  ?  What  is 
the  degree  of  emphasis  on  physical  geography  and  on  man's  place 
in  the  world,  that  is,  on  commerce  and  civilization  ? 

Third,  take  books  in  first-year  Latin.  What  emphasis  is  given 
to  vocabulary,  to  reading,  and  to  grammar?  How  do  books  of 
this  type  differ  from  books  on  French  and  German  ?  Is  the  choice 
of  reading  matter  in  the  various  books  based  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple of  selection  ?  How  far  could  the  books  be  used  by  a  pupil 
without  a  teacher  ?  What  is  the  contribution  expected  of  the 
teacher ;  that  is,  what  must  the  teacher  know  about  Latin  more 
than  is  given  in  the  book  ?  How  are  the  pages  of  material  related 
to  assignments;  that  is,  are  assignments  suggested  by  the  text  itself? 

BAGLEY,  W.  C,  and  RUGG,  H.  O.  "  Content  of  American  History  as 
taught  in  the  Seventh  and  Eighth  Grades."  Bulletin  A'o.  s6,  School 
of  Education,  University  of  Illinois,  1916. 

Minimum  Essentials  in  Elementary-School  Subjects.  Fourteenth  Year- 
book of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Education,  Part  I, 
1915.  The  University  of  Chicago  Press.  Other  types  of  study  than 
those  suggested  in  the  above  questions  are  outlined  in  this  yearbook. 


CHAPTER  XV 

STANDARDIZATION 
TESTS  AND  MEASUREMENTS  OF  PRODUCTS 

There  is  a  group  of  recent  studies  which  affect  the 
curriculum  and  all  other  phases  of  school  organization  so 
profoundly  that  a  separate  chapter  must  be  devoted  to  an 
exposition  of  their  character  and  aims.  These  are  studies 
which  aim  to  standardize  school  work  through  tests,  measure- 
ments, and  exact  quantitative  descriptions  of  the  products  of 
teaching. 

For  example,  one  of  the  efforts  of  the  elementary  school 
is  to  teach  pupils  to  write.  It  is  entirely  possible  after  the 
school  has  done  its  work  to  find  out  by  an  examination 
of  the  results  how  well  pupils  can  write.  It  is  never  ex- 
pected that  pupils  in  the  second  grade  will  write  as  well 
as  pupils  in  the  upper  grades.  In  this  sense,  then,  it  may 
be  said  that  the  results  expected  in  the  second  grade  are  of 
a  lower  standard  than  those  expected  higher  in  the  school. 
Furthermore,  there  is  a  sharp  contrast  between  rapid  writ- 
ing and  slow  writing.  The  pupil  who  writes  one  hundred 
and  fifty  letters  in  a  minute  with  a  quality  or  form  of  letters 
which  is  fair  exhibits  one  kind  of  result,  while  the  pupil  who 
writes  only  seventy-five  letters  a  minute  but  shows  great 
regularity  in  his  letters  exhibits  another  kind  of  result.  It 
is  not  easy  in  two  cases  such  as  have  just  been  described 
to  determine  at  once  which  result  is  better.  It  may  be  that 
speed  should  be  encouraged  in  order  to  secure  free,  fluent 
movements  even  if  quality  has  to  be  sacrificed  for  the  time 
being. 


STANDARDIZATION  2 1 3 

EARLIER  STANDARDS  BASED  ON  OPINION 

One  difficulty  in  dealing  with  the  results  of  school  work 
has  been  that  schools  have  had  no  clear  definition  of  what 
ought  to  be  demanded.  Opinion  has  been  matched  against 
opinion.  Thus  the  parent  often  feels  that  he  has  a  right 
to  pass  unqualified  judgment  on  the  progress  of  his  child 
and  on  the  teacher's  methods  of  dealing  with  him.  The 
employer  demands  of  the  boy  whom  he  employs  a  certain 
proficiency  in  spelling  and  adding.  The  superintendent,  in 
pursuance  of  his  duties,  tells  the  teachers  that  their  work  is 
satisfactory  or  otherwise  and  that  the  children  do  or  do  not 
read  as  well  as  they  should.  The  teacher  has  a  certain 
expectation,  and  the  pupil  feels  sure  that  he  is  doing  his 
work  well.  Each,  according  to  his  personal  standard,  is 
estimating  the  work  done  in  the  school. 

Very  often  these  standards  differ  when  applied  to  one  and 
the  same  performance  ;  sometimes  they  differ  so  radically 
that  social  troubles  follow.  The  parent  says  that  his  child 
is  doing  satisfactory  work,  while  the  teacher  estimates  the 
work  as  inferior.  In  such  a  case  it  happens,  often  after  a 
controversy,  that  one  standard  ultimately  prevails.  It  is  a 
matter  of  record  in  some  communities  that  the  parent's 
standard  has  at  times  been  asserted  with  enough  energy  to 
result  in  the  removal  of  the  dissenting  teacher  from  office. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  more  commonly  true  that  the 
teacher's  standard  dominates,  and  the  pupil  either  changes 
his  ways  or  fails  of  promotion.  In  either  case,  it  would 
have  been  better  for  all  concerned  if  some  exact  standard 
could  have  been  set  up  which  would  have  been  recognized 
as  superior  in  its  sanction  to  individual  opinion. 

Even  teachers  of  experience  disagree  in  grading  the  same 
examination  paper.  One  demands  correctness  in  every  detail, 
while  the  other  concentrates  attention  on  originality  and 
force  of  expression. 


214     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

OBJECTIVE  AND  EXACT  STANDARDS 

The  effort  to  lay  down  by  investigation  satisfactory 
standards  of  school  work  is  one  of  the  most  productive 
lines  of  educational  inquiry  which  has  ever  been  instituted. 
Like  all  great  movements,  this  movement  of  standardization 
has  been  misunderstood  and  opposed,  but  it  is  steadily 
gaining  ground  and  promises  to  be  the  largest  contribution 
of  this  generation  to  education. 

In  essence  it  consists  of  a  careful,  systematic  measure- 
ment of  what  pupils  accomplish.  If  there  are  at  hand 
measurements  of  the  actual  achievements  of  pupils  in 
various  subjects  in  all  the  grades,  it  is  safe  to  compare  any 
single  performance  with  the  general  average.  It  should  be 
noted  that  this  does  not  imply  a  demand  that  every  pupil's 
work  be  like  the  average.  There  are  pupils  who  do  their 
work  under  unfavorable  conditions,  as,  for  example,  pupils 
who  have  difficulty  in  reading  because  they  hear  no  English 
at  home.  Their  results  should  not  be  expected  to  reach  the 
average,  at  least  in  the  early  grades.  How  far  the  results 
are  from  the  average  should,  however,  be  definitely  known. 
Explanation  can  then  be  given.  Where  conditions  are  not 
unfavorable  the  demand  can  be  the  more  vigorously  made 
that  the  average  expectation  be  reached. 

BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  MOVEMENT 

The  way  in  which  this  movement  began  and  the  rapidity 
with  which  it  has  progressed  are  vividly  described  by  one 
of  its  chief  exponents  as  follows : 

Eighteen  years  ago  the  school  superintendents  of  America,  as- 
sembled in  convention  in  Indianapolis,  discussed  the  problems 
then  foremost  in  educational  thought  and  action.  At  that  meeting 
a  distinguished  educator1  —  the  pioneer  and  pathfinder  among 

1 J.  M.  Rice,  editor  of  the  Forum. 


STANDARDIZATION  2 1 5 

the  scientific  students  of  education  in  America  —  brought  up  for 
discussion  the  results  of  his  investigations  of  spelling  among  the 
children  in  the  school  systems  of  nineteen  cities.  These  results 
showed  that,  taken  all  in  all,  the  children  who  spent  forty  minutes 
a  day  for  eight  years  in  studying  spelling  did  not  spell  any  better 
than  the  children  in  the  schools  of  other  cities  where  they  devoted 
only  ten  minutes  per  day  to  the  study. 

The  presentation  of  these  data  threw  that  assemblage  into  con- 
sternation, dismay,  and  indignant  protest.  But  the  resulting  storm 
of  vigorously  voiced  opposition  was  directed  not  against  the 
methods  and  results  of  the  investigation,  but  against  the  investi- 
gator who  had  pretended  to  measure  the  results  of  teaching 
spelling  by  testing  the  ability  of  children  to  spell. 

In  terms  of  scathing  denunciation  the  educators  there  present 
and  the  pedagogical  experts,  who  reported  the  deliberations  of  the 
meeting  in  the  educational  press,  characterized  as  silly,  dangerous, 
and  from  every  viewpoint  reprehensible,  the  attempt  to  test  the 
efficiency  of  the  teacher  by  finding  out  what  the  pupils  could  do. 
With  striking  unanimity  they  voiced  the  conviction  that  any 
attempt  to  evaluate  the  teaching  of  spelling  in  terms  of  the  ability 
of  the  pupils  to  spell  was  essentially  impossible  and  based  on  a 
profound  misconception  of  the  function  of  education. 

Last  month  in  the  city  of  Cincinnati  that  same  association  of 
school  superintendents,  again  assembled  in  convention,  devoted 
fifty-seven  addresses  and  discussions  to  tests  and  measurements 
of  educational  efficiency.  The  basal  proposition  underlying  this 
entire  mass  of  discussion  was  that  the  effectiveness  of  the  school, 
the  methods,  and  the  teachers  must  be  measured  in  terms  of  the 
results  secured.1 

HANDWRITING  SCAI.KS 

One  of  the  earliest  types  of  school  work  to  he  standard- 
ized was  handwriting.  Standard  "scales,"  as  they  are  called, 
have  been  prepared  by  several  investigators,  and  their  use 
has  become  very  common. 

1  Leonard  P.  Ayrcs,  "Making  Education  Definite."  Hullttin  .V<>.  //, 
Indiana  University,  Vol.  XIII  (October.  1915),  pp.  85-86.  Published  by  the 
Kxtcnsion  Division  of  Indiana  University. 


216     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

The  first  scale  was  prepared  by  Professor  Thorndike.1 
He  secured  a  number  of  specimens  of  children's  writing, 
and  asked  experienced  judges  to  arrange  these  specimens 
in  a  series  of  descending  degrees  of  excellence.  By  combin- 
ing the  judgments  returned  by  the  experts  it  was  possible 
to  secure  an  average  judgment.  Certain  typical  specimens 
were  then  set  aside,  representing  equal  steps  in  the  descend- 
ing scale.  In  practical  use,  a  given  sample  of  handwriting 
which  is  to  be  judged  is  compared  with  the  successive  steps 
in  the  scale  until  an  approximate  equality  in  degree  of  excel- 
lence is  found.  The  sample  to  be  judged  is  then  marked 
with  the  grade  agreed  on  for  the  standard  specimen. 

A  second  scale  was  prepared  by  Ayres2  on  a  more  ob- 
jective basis.  The  specimens  were  arranged  in  a  series,  not 
in  accordance  with  the  judgment  of  experts,  but  according 
to  the  time  which  was  required  to  read  them. 

A  third  scale,  more  elaborate  than  either  of  the  others,  was 
prepared  by  Freeman.3  He  first  made  an  analysis  of  the  dif- 
ferent characteristics  which  enter  into  excellent  writing,  such 
as  uniformity  of  slant,  uniformity  in  the  height  and  spacing 
of  letters,  and  other  like  essential  characteristics,  and  then 
selected  specimens  exhibiting  decreasing  grades  of  excellence 
in  each  of  these  characteristics.  Since  each  characteristic  of 
writing  is  capable  of  definite  measurement,  the  specimens 
could  be  graded  on  the  basis  of  direct  measurements.  Thus 
the  slant  of  a  number  of  specimens  was  measured  letter  by 
letter,  and  objective  grades  were  established. 

Finally,  the  preparation  of  scales  of  handwriting  has  gone 
so  far  that  special  scales  or  series  of  graded  specimens  for 
particular  school  systems  have  been  prepared. 


1  E.L. Thorndike, "Handwriting."    Teachers  College  Record,  March,  1910. 

2  L.  P.  Ayres,  A  Scale  for  Measuring  the  Quality  of  Handwriting  of 
School   Children.     Russell  Sage  Foundation,  New.  York. 

8  F.  N.  Freeman,  The  Teaching  of  Handwriting.      Houghton  Mifflin 
Company,  1914. 


STANDARDIZATION  217 

SPEED  AS  A  CORRELATE  OF  QUALITY 

In  the  meantime  the  matter  of  speed  in  handwriting  has 
also  been  a  subject  of  careful  measurement,  and  tables  of 
average  speeds  for  different  grades  have  been  prepared  in 
a  number  of  school  systems. 

A  device  for  presenting  in  a  single  diagram  both  speed 
and  quality  and  at  the  same  time  comparing  several  grades 
in  the  same  school  with  each  other  was  worked  out  in  the 
Cleveland  survey.  The  figure  and  a  description  of  its  mean- 
ing^are  given  on  pages  218,  219. 

The  relative  emphasis  on  speed  and  quality  actually  found  in  a 
number  of  different  schools  is  set  forth  in  the  following  diagram. 
The  separate  parts  of  this  diagram  are  made  up  as  follows :  The 
average  speed  of  a  grade  is  represented  by  distances  in  the  hori- 
zontal, and  average  quality  by  distances  in  the  vertical,  scale.  Thus, 
taking  the  first  section  of  the  diagram,  that  of  the  North  Doan 
School,  the  fifth  grade  has  an  average  speed  of  71  letters  per 
minute,  and  an  average  quality  of  41.  The  sixth  grade  shows 
progress  in  both  speed  and  quality,  though  speed  increases  more 
than  quality.  The  seventh  and  eighth  grades  show  further  prog- 
ress in  both  speed  and  quality,  the  two  changing  at  about  the 
same  rate.  The  diagram  for  the  Kentucky  School  shows  progress 
of  a  slightly  different  type.  In  this  school  the  sixth  grade,  as  com- 
pared with  the  fifth,  shows  progress  in  quality,  but  very  little  in 
speed.  Progress  from  the  sixth  grade  on  is  about  equal  in  quality 
and  speed.  Memorial  School  emphasizes  speed  almost  exclusively 
up  to  the  eighth  grade,  while  Mt.  Pleasant  emphasi/es  quality. 

The  various  schools  which  have  been  reported  in  the  four  upper 
sections  of  the  diagram  are  all  regular  in  the  sense  that  each  school 
shows  steady  progress  from  grade  to  grade  in  both  speed  and 
quality.  Without  attempting  to  comment  in  detail  on  the  special 
cases,  attention  is  called  to  the  series  of  results  presented  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  diagram.1 

1  Measuring  the  Work  of  the  Public  Schools,  pp.  75-77.  Cleveland 
Kducation  Survey.  Published  by  the  Survey  Committee  of  the  Cleveland 
Foundation,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  iyi6. 


Quality 


Quality 


/>8 


60 
5U 
•W 


ec^- 


50        60        70        80        90 


Speed 


50        60         70         80        90 


50 


.50 


10 


FIG.  14.    Average  quality  and  average  speed  of  handwriting  of  pupils  of 
the  four  upper  grades  in  ten  schools  * 

2lS 


STANDARDIZATION  2 1 9 

Before  giving  examples  of  standardization  in  fields  other 
than  penmanship,  it  will  be  well  to  indicate  the  full  mean- 
ing of  the  foregoing  paragraphs. 

STANDARDS,  PERSONAL  AND  IMPERSONAL 

First,  it  will  be  seen  that  measurements  are  here  substi- 
tuted for  purely  personal  judgments.  It  was  the  universal 
practice  before  this  movement  began,  and  it  is  the  common 
practice  to-day,  for  a  supervisor  to  go  from  school  to  school, 
passing  on  the  excellence  and  speed  of  handwriting.  The 
supervisor  has  arrived  at  a  personal  standard  through  his 
experience.  He  expects  a  certain  result  in  the  fifth  grade. 
He  has  in  his  mind  a  more  or  less  clearly  defined  require- 
ment and  regards  it  as  his  duty  to  impose  this  on  pupils 
and  teachers.  In  the  same  way  the  teacher  has  a  personal 
standard  which  is  imposed  on  the  pupils.  It  would  be  a 
mistake  to  describe  these  personal  standards  as  arbitrary  or 
unintelligent.  The  experienced  teacher  is  usually  approxi- 
mately right  in  his  expectations,  and  the  supervisor  usually 
does  a  great  deal  to  raise  and  unify  the  level  of  work  with 
which  he  comes  in  contact.  But  it  is  not  possible  in  a 
complex  social  situation  to  rely  on  personal  standards.  Per- 
sonal life  and  professional  activity  are  too  transient.  How 
many  schools  have  changed  standards,  to  the  great  disadvan- 
tage of  the  penmanship,  with  each  change  of  supervisors  ? 
Furthermore,  personal  standards  are  vague  when  one  tries 
to  transmit  them  to  others.  This  is  a  serious  matter  when 
it  is  remembered  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  teachers  in 
each  school  are  changing  each  year.  If  a  supervisor  is  to 
systematize  the  work  of  his  schools,  he  must  constantly  be 

•Quality  on  vertical  scale,  speed  on  horizontal  scalp.   The  four  schools  referred  to 

in  the  text  arc  represented   in  the  four  diagrams  in  the  upper  part  of  the  figure. 

North  Doan  is  reported  in  the  diagram  in  the  upper  left-hand  corner.    Kentucky  is 

shown  in  the  upper  right-hand  corner.   Memorial  is  under  North  Doan.   Mt.  Pleasant 

is  under  Kentucky. 


220     THE  SCIENTIFIC   STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

bringing  into  agreement  with  his  standards  the  standards 
of  a  large  number  of  new  teachers.  For  the  sake  of  cooper- 
ation it  is  advantageous  to  turn  a  personal  standard  into  one 
which  can  be  described  and  defined.  Finally,  a  personal 
standard  grows  up  out  of  all  the  accidents  of  a  personal 
career.  The  person  of  narrow  experience  may  not  have 
incorporated  into  his  standards  valuable  elements  which  he 
would  have  accepted  had  he  come  in  contact  with  them. 
The  person  of  strong  personal  likes  and  dislikes  may  often 
be  prejudiced.  The  person  of  broad  experience  may  be 
inexact  when  it  comes  to  details.  To  demand  of  all  who 
teach  handwriting  that  they  rise  above  purely  personal  stand- 
ards is  not  unlike  the  demand  that  the  central  government 
rather  than  the  states  mint  our  coins. 

SOCIAL  STANDARDS  VERSUS  IMPOSED  STANDARDS 

Second,  the  standards  set  up  are  derived  from  the  work 
actually  going  on  in  schools.  There  is  no  dictation  from 
purely  theoretical  and  arbitrary  sources.  It  is  quite  impos- 
sible to  close  one's  eyes  to  the  fact  that  in  the  past  there 
has  been  a  tendency  to  assume  that  the  only  standard  of 
action  is  the  perfect  standard.  Many  a  child  has  been 
taught  penmanship  from  perfect  copy  and  has  been  urged 
to  imitate  this  copy  at  whatever  cost  of  time  and  pains. 
The  slow,  painful  effort  to  draw  letters  like  those  in  the 
copy  book  is  not  an  unfamiliar  exhibition  in  the  penman- 
ship class.  A  standard  derived  from  the  school  work  itself 
is  a  social  standard ;  it  is  based  on  what  pupils  really  do. 
One  need  not  be  satisfied  with  present  performances,  but 
one  starts  from  solid  ground.  Furthermore,  out  of  actual 
measurements  will  come  a  clear  idea  of  the  range  of  vari- 
ation. One  of  the  most  astonishing  facts  which  have  come 
out  in  the  course  of  the  study  of  standards  is  the  fact  that 
there  are  very  wide  variations  in  the  same  grade.  There  is, 


STANDARDIZATION  221 

therefore,  an  easy  possibility  of  finding  for  each  grade  high 
standards.  These  high  standards  have  the  further  advantage 
of  being  standards  actually  realized  by  pupils.  We  are  justi- 
fied in  describing  the  standards  thus  set  up  as  natural  stand- 
ards. They  do  not  limit  the  progress  of  any  grade  or  aim 
at  mechanical  uniformity  as  do  the  arbitrary  standards  based 
on  personal  judgments. 

COMPARISON  THROUGH  EXACT  MEASUREMENT 

Third,  standards  measured  and  expressed  in  definite 
terms  can  be  compared  and  can  be  made  the  basis  of  studies 
which  are  quite  impossible  so  long  as  standards  are  not 
expressed  in  common  terms.  For  example,  when  the  speed 
of  handwriting  in  a  certain  school  is  deliberately  changed, 
what  is  the  effect  produced  on  quality  ?  Heretofore  it  has 
been  almost  impossible  to  answer  such  a  question.  Every 
school  reform  has  been  enthusiastically  hailed  by  its  friends 
as  accomplishing  much.  In  the  second  generation  most  of 
these  reforms  are  checked,  if  not  actually  dropped,  because 
it  is  found  that  the  good  accomplished  in  one  line  is  entirely 
lost  in  some  other.  To-day  reforms  are  in  a  position  to 
measure  their  effects  in  all  directions.  A  change  in  the 
speed  of  handwriting  may  or  may  not  be  advantageous  ;  it 
is  the  duty  of  measurement  to  so  state  results  that  some 
light  will  be  thrown  on  this  matter. 

A  concrete  example  will  serve  to  show  how  studies  of 
this  kind  may  be  carried  out.  Fig.  1 5  shows  the  relative 
speeds  and  qualities  of  handwriting  found  in  various  grades 
in  a  miscellaneous  group  of  cities  and  the  corresponding 
facts  for  St.  Louis  and  Grand  Rapids.  It  is  seen  that  both 
of  these  school  systems  are  ahead  at  all  points  in  speed  and 
behind  at  first  in  quality,  lioth  cities  have  made  a  conscious 
effort  to  get  away  from  the  slow  drawing  of  letters  in  the 
lower  grades.  In  doing  this  quality  has  been  sacrificed. 


222     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  discussion  to  decide  what 
methods  of  teaching  handwriting  are  best ;  the  value  of  this 
example  is  that  it  shows  quality  and  speed  reduced  to  terms 
where  the  two  can  be  studied  together  and  with  a  high 
degree  of  exactness. 

RECORDS  AS  A  BASIS'  OF  STANDARDIZATION 

Fourth  and  finally,  measured  standards  show  the  direction 
in  which  pupils  are  moving,  because  they  permit  a  per- 
manent record  of  each  step  of  the  child's  development. 
Schools  have  been  slow  to  learn  the  value  of  records.  On 
the  one  hand,  school  records  have  been  piled  up  by  the 
tome  and  no  use  has  been  made  of  them ;  on  the  other 
hand,  they  are  usually  so  loosely  thrown  together  that 
they  are  of  very  little  value  in  guiding  educational  pol- 
icy. Here  is  a  form  of  record  which  can  be  duplicated 
and  compared  from  year  to  year.  Medicine  has  long  since 
learned  that  exact  records  are  the  only  safe  means  of 
guiding  treatment.  Modern  agriculture  has  become  scien- 
tific through  the  use  of  records  and  through  decisions 
regarding  experiments  which  these  records  make  possible. 
Modern  business  has  learned  to  make  its  accounting  intel- 
ligent enough  to  guide  policies.  Finally,  schools  are  begin- 
ning to  see  that  records  of  a  type  permitting  continuous 
comparisons  are  invaluable  in  determining  at  what  point 
school  work  shall  take  this  or  that  form. 

STUDIES  OF  ORAL  READING 

What  has  been  done  with  penmanship  has  been  paralleled 
in  some  other  subjects  of  elementary  instruction.  The  fol- 
lowing quotations  have  to  do  with  oral,  reading : 

A  cooperative  study  of  reading  was  organized  during  the 
month  of  September  by  the  committee  in  charge  of  the  grade- 
teachers'  section  of  the  Illinois  State  Teachers  Association 


Speed                                                       Quality 

75 
.70 
65 

/ 

> 

f 

/ 

/ 

, 

60 
55 
50 
45 
40 
35 
30 
25 

85 
80 
75 
70 
65 
60 
55 
50 
45 
40 
33 
3d 
X 

/ 

'   ' 

,' 

/, 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

7 

/ 

f 

/ 

/ 

i 

-''/ 

// 

/ 

/ 

// 

/ 

( 

/ 

^, 

/ 

2345678        Grade        2345678 

ST.  Louis 
Speed                                                       Quality 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

,' 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

s 

s 

' 

£ 

/ 

/ 

'     i 

/ 

' 

/ 

/ 

// 

/ 

/ 

/ 

' 

// 

/' 

' 

/ 

ft 

/ 

•1     S     4      5     6      7      8        Grade        2345678 

(Ji:  AMI  UAPID9 

FIG.  15.   Speed  and  quality  of  handwriting 

Dotted  lines  indicate  the  level  of  achievement  in  various  grades  in  fifty-six  cities,  the 

result*  from  which  were  averaged ;  the  full-drawn  lines  show  the  achievements  in 

the  two  cities  discussed 


224     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

(Northeastern  Section),  which  met  at  Elgin,  Illinois,  November 
3  and  4.  The  purpose  of  this  study  was  to  secure  a  body  of  facts 
in  regard  to  the  achievement  of  boys  and  girls  in  reading  in  a 
number  of  schools  represented  in  the  Association.  .  .  . 

The  materials  used  in  this  study  of  reading  were  the  standard- 
ized oral-reading  paragraphs  and  the  silent-reading  tests  which 
have  been  used  in  connection  with  the  surveys  in  Cleveland, 
Grand  Rapids,  and  St.  Louis,  as  well  as  in  a  large  number  of 
investigations  carried  on  in  other  cities.  .  .  . 

The  standardized  oral-reading  paragraphs  consist  of  a  series  of 
twelve  paragraphs  arranged  in  the  order  of  increasing  difficulty. 
The  tests  were  given  to  the  pupils  individually  by  a  principal  or 
by  a  teacher  who  had  been  previously  trained  for  the  work.  As 
the  pupil  read  the  teacher  recorded  the  time  required  to  read  each 
paragraph  together  with  the  number  of  errors  which  were  made  of 
the  following  types : 

(a)  Gross  mispronunciations,  which  include  such  errors  in 
pronunciation  as  indicate  clearly  that  the  word  is  too  difficult  for 
the  pupil  to  pronounce. 

(b*)  Minor  mispronunciations,  which  include  the  pronunciation 
of  a  portion  of  a  word,  wrong  accent,  wrong  syllabification, 
omission  of  syllables,  etc. 

(<:)    Omission  of  words. 

(</)  Insertion  of  words. 

(e)  Repetition  of  words  or  groups  of  words. 

(f)  Substitution  of  one  word  or  group  of  words  for  another. 

A  pupil  continued  to  read  until  he  had  made  seven  or  more 
errors  in  each  of  two  paragraphs.  By  means  of  a  system  of 
scoring  based  on  the  time  required  to  read  and  on  the  number 
of  errors  which  were  made  it  was  possible  to  represent  the 
achievement  of  a  pupil  or  a  class  in  numerical  terms.  .  .  . 

The  upper  section  of  the  table  [given  below]  gives  the  aver- 
age number  of  seconds  required  to  read  paragraph  i  and  the 
average  number  of  errors  made  by  three  poor  second-grade  classes 
and  by  three  good  second-grade  classes.  Of  the  poor  schools, 
School  M  made  more  errors  and  read  more  slowly  than  the  aver- 
age. School  N  read  with  fewer  errors  than  the  average,  but  read 
so  slowly  that  the  oral-reading  score  for  the  class  was  below  the 


STANDARDIZATION 


225 


average.  School  O,  on  the  other  hand,  gave  sufficient  emphasis  to 
rate,  but  neglected  accuracy  to  such  an  extent  that  the  oral-reading 
score  was  low.  An  examination  of  the  records  made  by  the  good 
schools  shows  clearly  that  consistent  progress  in  both  rate  and  accu- 
racy is  a  prerequisite  to  a  high  level  of  achievement.  The  schools  of 
northern  Illinois  vary  widely  in  the  amount  of  emphasis  given  to 
these  phases  of  reading  achievement.  There  is  need,  on  the  part  of 
many  teachers,  for  a  continuous  critical  study  of  the  specific  char- 
acter of  the  results  which  they  are  securing. 

RATE  AND  ERRORS  IN  ORAL  READING 
PARAGRAPH  1  —  GRADE  II 


AVERAGE 

POOR  SCHOOLS 

GOOD  SCHOOLS 

M 

N 

O 

X 

Y 

Z 

Rate  [seconds  per  passage] 
Errors     

42.2 
1.4 

65.0 

2.O 

64.1 
0.5 

39-i 
2.4 

27.2 
I.I 

32.8 
0.9 

37-9 
'•3 

PARAGRAPH  1 — GRADES  II,  III,  AND  IV 


AVERAGE 

SCHOOL  A 

SCHOOL  B 

SCHOOL  C 

SCHOOL  D 

Grade  II 
Rate    

±2.2 

-17.0 

6?.O 

•10.  i 

4-31 

Errors      .... 
Grade  III 
Rate    

1.4 
2I.O 

'•3 
19.8 

2.0 

2-1.6 

2.4 

2T.O 

'•7 
28.0 

Errors      .... 
Grade  IV 
Rate     

0.9 
18.6 

0.7 
18.0 

'•7 

2I.O 

1.8 

16.0 

0.8 

27.O 

Errors      .... 

0.8 

0.6 

•3 

0.5 

'•5 

Additional  light  is  thrown  on  this  problem  when  we  follow 
certain  schools  through  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  grades.  The 
average  rate  and  number  of  errors  for  (iradcs  II,  III,  and  IV  are 
given  in  the  left-hand  column  of  the  lower  section  of  the  table. 
The  records  for  School  A  show  that  second-grade  pupils  do  better 
both  in  rate  and  in  accuracy  than  the  average.  The  same  thing  may 
be  said  of  the  third  and  fourth  grades.  Continuous,  consistent 


226     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

progress  of  this  type  is  very  commendable.  In  School  B,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  pupils  do  less  well  in  each  grade  in  both  speed  and 
accuracy  than  the  average.  A  question  arises  here  concerning  the 
general  effectiveness  of  the  classroom  instruction.  School  C  ranks 
low  in  accuracy  in  the  second  grade.  Apparently  this  difficulty  was 
realized  in  the  third  grade,  and  considerable  progress  both  in  speed 
and  in  accuracy  resulted.  In  the  fourth  grade  average  results  are 
attained  which  are  above  the  average.  This  school  represents  con- 
sistent, continuous  growth  from  grade  to  grade  of  a  highly  desirable 
type.  School  D,  on  the  other  hand,  makes  improvement  in  speed 
and  accuracy  in  the  third  grade,  but  fails  to  increase  its  rate  in  the 
fourth  grade,  and  makes  a  record  in  accuracy  which  is  distinctly 
below  the  record  made  by  the  third  grade.  It  is  evident,  if  the 
records  for  the  present  second,  third,  and  fourth  grades  are  typical 
of  the  results  secured  from  year  to  year,  that  there  is  need  for 
more  intelligent  instruction  and  supervision  in  School  D. 

In  this  connection  it  should  be  said  that  objective  standards  of 
attainment  for  each  grade  should  be  defined.  By  means  of  tests 
given  throughout  a  school  or  a  city  the  present  level  of  achieve- 
ment can  be  determined.  By  means  of  comparisons  with  results 
secured  elsewhere  new  goals  of  attainment  can  be  defined.  Each 
teacher  should  become  familiar  with  the  methods  of  giving  tests. 
She  should  utilize  them  frequently  in  examining  her  work  to  find 
sources  of  strength  and  weakness.  Through  the  co-operation  of 
teachers  and  supervisors  progressive  revisions  in  standards 
of  attainment  and  methods  of  procedure  should  be  made.  This 
type  of  co-operation  is  necessary  because  it  is  only  when  all  the 
units  of  a  school  system  work  consistently  together  toward  clearly 
defined  ends  that  the  most  effective  results  can  be  secured.1 

STUDIES  DEALING  WITH  OTHER  SUBJECTS 

A  great  number  of  similar  studies  are  being  reported 
each  year  on  arithmetic,  spelling,  and  other  aspects  of  the 
elementary  curriculum.  The  high-school  subjects  are  more 

1  William  S.  Gray,  "  A  Co-operative  Study  of  Reading  in  Eleven  Cities 
of  Northern  Illinois."  Elementary  School  Journal,  Vol.  XVII,  No.  4 
(December,  1916),  pp.  250-257. 


STANDARDIZATION  227 

complicated  than  those  in  the  elementary  school,  but  even 
these  are  beginning  to  be  tested.  There  are  satisfactory 
tests  in  algebra  and  the  beginnings  of  measurements  in 
Latin  and  English. 

MECHANICAL  ASPECTS  THE   FIRST  TO  BE  STANDARDIZED 

In  all  cases  standardization  begins  with  the  mechanical, 
aspects  of  school  work.  These  are  more  susceptible  to  exact 
quantitative  description  and  are  the  first  to  be  taken  up. 
Some  writers  have  professed  to  find  in  this  a  reason 
for  rejecting  the  whole  movement  toward  standardization. 
There  are,  they  assert,  products  of  teaching  which  are 
subtle  and  intangible.  These  are  the  products  which  are 
most  highly  to  be  prized.  Thoroughly  to  standardize  pen- 
manship and  oral  reading  and  algebra  is  to  set  aside  these 
more  important  matters. 

Two  answers  are  to  be  made  to  this  objection  to  the 
movement  toward  standardization.  In  the  first  place,  the 
higher  values  of  education  are  not  secured  by  teachers  who 
are  negligent  of  the  fundamental  mechanical  requirements. 
The  teacher  who  successfully  trains  his  pupil  to  study  history 
will  make  of  him  a  good  reader  also.  In  the  second  place,  if 
it  should  prove  to  be  desirable  to  give  less  time  than  is  given 
at  present  to  training  in  the  mechanical  aspects  of  school 
subjects,  it  will  certainly  be  absolutely  essential  that  the 
limits  and  restrictions  be  set  up  with  discrimination.  We 
shall  never  be  able  to  deal  intelligently  with  the  mechanical 
aspects  of  education  until  we  have  studied  them. 

A  third  statement  which  can  be  ventured  with  assurance 
in  the  light  of  the  recent  history  of  this  movement  is  that 
its  limits  cannot  be  set.  ICach  year  new  aspects  of  school 
work  are  measured  with  exactness.  It  is  certain  that  the 
ultimate  conquests  of  measurement  will  push  the  opponents 
back  into  their  own  territory. 


228     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 


In  short,  standardization  is  nothing  but  a  systematic  effort 
to  deal  with  educational  problems  explicitly  and  in  the  light 
of  exact  information.  Whatever  may  be  the  limits  of  exact 
knowledge  in  educational  matters,  it  is  certain  that  we  ought 
to  secure  as  much  knowledge  of  this  type  as  possible. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

The  exercise  which  will  best  serve  to  supplement  this  chapter 
is  a  series  of  tests  performed  on  members  of  the  class  and  worked 
out  by  them  for  purposes  of  comparison  with  other  standard 
results.  In  the  appendix  of  the  volume  of  the  Cleveland  survey 
entitled  "  Measuring  the  Work  of  the  Public  Schools  "  a  full  set 
of  standard  tests  will  be  found. 

S.  A.  Courtis,  82  Eliot  Street,  Detroit,  Michigan,  furnishes  tests 
in  various  subjects,  especially  arithmetic. 

The  following  institutions  furnish  various  tests : 

College  of  Education,  The  University  of  Chicago,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

Teachers  College,  Columbia  University,  New  York  City. 

Bureau  of  Measurements  and  Tests,  State  Normal  School, 
Emporia,  Kansas. 

The  readings  which  are  most  useful  in  this  connection  are  to  be 
found  in  current  educational  periodicals.  The  student  will  find  the 
latest  scientific  studies  in  such  journals  as  the  following : 

School  Review.     Published  by  The  University  of  Chicago  Press.    This 

is  a  journal  dealing  chiefly  with  high  schools. 
Elementary  School  Journal.    Published  by  The  University  of  Chicago 

Press.     This  contains  very  full  reviews  of  elementary  tests. 
Journal  of  Educational  Psychology.    Published  by  Warwick  and  York, 

Baltimore,  Maryland. 
Educational  Administration  and  Supervision.    Published  by  Warwick 

and  York,  Baltimore,  Maryland. 
Educational  Review.    Published  by  the  Educational  Review  Publishing 

Company,  Easton,  Pennsylvania. ' 
School  and  Society.    Published  by  The  Science  Press,  New  York  City. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

METHODS 
MEANING  OF  THE  TERM  "  METHOD  " 

The  problems  of  instruction  are  by  no  means  solved  when 
a  subject  has  been  selected  and  placed  in  its  proper  relation 
to  the  other  subjects  in  the  curriculum.  There  is  still  the 
problem  of  presenting  the  subject  to  the  class  in  such  a 
way  as  to  appeal  to  the  attention  and  interest  of  its  mem- 
bers. The  special  term  which  is  applied  in  educational 
writings  to  the  organization  of  material  for  class  instruction 
is  the  term  "  method  "  or  "  method  of  teaching." 

In  contrasting  American  schools  with  European  schools 
it  was  pointed  out  in  an  earlier  chapter  that  the  American 
method  is  the  textbook  and  recitation  method,  while  the 
method  of  the  European  schools  is  predominantly  the  oral 
or  lecture  method.  The  subject-matter  of  instruction  can 
be  treated  by  either  of  these  methods. 

MEANING  OF  THE  TERM  "DEVICE" 

Another  term  which  has  been  used  in  educational  dis- 
cussions to  distinguish  between  the  more  general  modes  of 
procedure  and  certain  details  of  classroom  work  is  the  term 
"device."  A  classroom  device  is  some  special  piece  of 
equipment  or  some  particular  way  of  dealing  with  a  class 
that  can  be  described  as  appropriate  to  a  single  classroom 
situation  or  to  some  topic  of  a  given  subject.  For  example, 
if  a  teacher  of  Latin  has  verb  forms  printed  on  cards  for 
the  purpose  of  drilling  his  classes  in  the  recognition  of  such 

229 


230     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

forms,  his  cards  are  spoken  of  as  devices.  Again,  if  one 
calls  the  roll  by  assigning  a  number  to  each  member  of  the 
class  and  then  requiring  each  number  to  be  given  in  its 
order,  it  is  said  that  one  has  a  time-saving  device. 

PERSONAL  METHODS  AND  DEVICES 

Every  teacher  has  methods  and  devices  of  presenting 
material  to  his  or  her  classes.  The  experienced  teacher 
behaves  skillfully  in  the  presence  of  a  class  because  all 
the  details  of  procedure  have  been  tried,  and  those  which 
proved  successful  have  been  retained.  The  inexperienced 
teacher  is  clumsy  in  his  methods,  just  as  is  any  novice  in 
dealing  with  an  unmastered  social  situation. 

SUPPOSED  CONFLICT  BETWEEN  METHODS  AND 
SUBJECT-MATTER 

It  is  sometimes  pointed  out  that  in  the  training  of  teachers 
there  is  danger  that  competition  will  arise  between  the  de- 
mand for  skill  in  methods  and  the  demand  for  knowledge 
of  subject-matter.  The  specialist  in  science  scoffs  at  a 
course  in  methods  of  teaching,  saying  that  all  the  prospec- 
tive teacher  needs  is  to  know  the  subject  thoroughly,  and 
method  will  take  care  of  itself.  Furthermore,  such  a  critic 
of  methods  often  points  out  that  the  time  required  for  a 
course  in  methods  must  be  taken  from  time  which  the 
student  ought  to  devote  to  subject-matter. 

The  school  principal  who  is  looking  for  a  science  teacher 
is  likely  to  reply  that  he  has  had  teachers  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  the  science  but  utterly  unsympathetic  with 
pupils.  Such  teachers  do  not  know  how  to  get  the  facts  to 
the  students.  They  are  abstract,  or  speak  too  fast,  or  do  not 
assign  the  lessons  in  such  a  way  as  to  help  the  students  see 
the  important  points. 


METHODS  231 

There  is  no  necessity  of  being  one-sided  in  this  matter. 
The  successful  teacher  will  ultimately  have  both  knowledge 
of  the  subject-matter  and  methods  and  devices  of  presenting 
the  subject-matter.  If  he  is  lacking  in  either,  he  will  be  in 
just  that  degree  inefficient.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  a 
properly  balanced  appreciation  of  both  is  the  sane  and  wise 
attitude  to  assume. 

Two  EXAMPLES  OF  MODERN  METHODS 

It  will,  of  course,  be  quite  impossible  to  do  more  than 
illustrate  the  problems  of  method  in  this  general  introduc- 
tion. The  remainder  of  this  chapter  will  be  devoted  to 
comments  on  two  significant  innovations  in  method  which 
are  characteristic  of  present-day  teaching  as  contrasted  with 
the  teaching  of  two  generations  ago.  The  older  of  these 
innovations  was  the  adoption  of  the  laboratory  method  ;  the 
later  general  innovation  is  the  movement  in  the  direction 
of  supervised  study  in  all  subjects. 

OBJECT  TEACHING 

An  appreciation  of  the  laboratory  method  can  be  gained 
by  reviewing  briefly  the  history  of  this  method  in  American 
schools.  As  far  back  as  1809  a  follower  of  Pestalozzi,  one 
Joseph  Neef,  conducted  a  school  in  Philadelphia,  where  he 
exhibited  Pestalozzi's  object  method.  Pupils  learned  by 
direct  contact  with  things.  Such  teaching  was  in  sharp 
contrast  with  the  ordinary  methods  then  in  vogue,  for  at 
that  time  instruction  consisted  exclusively  of  statements, 
either  oral  or  written,  which  the  pupils  were  supposed  to 
learn  by  heart. 

The  object-teaching  movement  made  little  progress  until 
it  was  taken  up  in  1X60  by  Dr.  Sheldon,  the  head  of  the 
normal  school  at  Oswego,  New  York.  From  Oswego  the 
movement  spread,  especially  to  the  new  Western  schools, 


232     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

and  had  so  wide  an  influence  that  the  study  of  nature  in 
the  lower  schools  was  vigorously  advocated  and  extensively 
undertaken.  The  inductive  method  of  direct  contact  with 
the  facts  was  advocated  in  fields  other  than  nature  study. 
Dr.  Sheldon's  daughter  took  a  vigorous  part  in  the  develop- 
ment of  instruction  in  history  based  on  direct  contact  with 
source  material.  The  laboratory  method  in  history,  as  it  was 
sometimes  called,  spread  and  inspired  enthusiasm  for  methods 
in  all  the  literary  subjects  analogous  to  the  laboratory  work 
of  the  sciences. 

LABORATORY  METHOD  IN  PHYSICS 

In  the  high  schools  a  parallel  movement  took  place  in 
the  last  third  of  the  nineteenth  century,  leading  to  the 
adoption  of  laboratory  work  as  a  definite  mode  of  instruc- 
tion. On  this  subject  one  writer  on  the  history  of  physics 
has  given  the  following  statements  : 

Experimental  work  had  not  been  entirely  unknown  in  secondary 
schools  even  in  the  early  part  of  the  century,  but  no  attempt  had 
been  made  to  bring  the  pupil  into  personal  contact  with  its  results. 
The  Boston  Grammar  Schools  were  all  furnished  with  a  $275  set 
of  physical  apparatus  as  early  as  1837,  and  most  of  the  academies 
installed  sets  about  that  time,  but  the  apparatus  was  for  the  use  of 
the  instructor  only,  the  pupils  not  being  allowed  to  handle  it.  And 
this  condition  existed  to  within  about  thirty  years  of  the  end  of  the 
century,  when  the  agitation  for  individual  laboratory  work  began. 

This  period  of  agitation  was  marked  by  the  beginning  of  some 
laboratory  work  and  the  discussion  of  the  value  of  individual  work 
and  the  inductive  method  by  educators.  But  there  was  no  general 
adoption  of  the  plan  till  a  later  period.  It  was  about  this  time  that 
David  Starr  Jordan  accepted  the  chair  of  Natural  History  in  an 
Illinois  college  and  attempted  to  establish  a  chemical  laboratory. 
His  attempt  was  promptly  vetoed  by  the  board  of  trustees.  .  .  . 

In  the  report  from  the  Albany,  N.Y.,  City  School,  for  1882, 
the  Superintendent  recommended  that  a  whole  year  be  given  to 


METHODS  233 

the  study  of  physics  with  opportunity  for  daily  experiments,  the 
class  participating  in  the  experiments  as  far  as  practicable.  The 
report  of  1882-1883  from  tne  Washington,  D.  C.,  High  School, 
states  that  laboratories  have  been  fitted  up.  Indianapolis  reported 
in  1883  that  the  experimental  method  had  been  introduced  and 
was  meeting  with  approval  from  both  teacher  and  pupil.  Cincin- 
nati reported  in  1882  that  physics  was  taught  from  a  syllabus  four 
hours  a  week  during  the  third  year.  St.  Louis  reported  physics 
taught  through  the  second  year  of  the  high  school.  The  reports 
show  only  qualitative  experiments.  .  .  . 

The  general  trend  of  accumulated  opinion  in  1884  shows  in- 
creased favor  of  the  idea  that  mental  discipline  is  the  chief  aim  in 
physics  teaching.  There  was  a  general  notion  that  the  study  of 
physics  ought  to  train  the  pupil  to  think,  but  as  to  what  method 
should  be  used  to  bring  about  this  result  there  was  no  settled  opin- 
ion. Laboratory  work  meant  anything  from  a  few  simple  demon- 
strations by  the  teacher  to  a  complete  individual  laboratory  course, 
such  as  is  given  at  the  present  day. 

For  the  next  fifteen  years,  physics  teaching,  in  fact,  science 
teaching  in  general,  was  in  an  experimental  stage.  In  the  effort  to 
make  science  a  disciplinary  study,  the  laboratory  method  was  com- 
ing into  general  use  rapidly,  but  the  old  idea  of  making  science 
include  everything  in  reach  —  a  remnant  of  the  Natural  Philosophy 
stage  —  had  prevented  its  becoming  a  really  disciplinary  study. 
We  find  David  Starr  Jordan  in  1889  lamenting  the  superficial  way 
in  which  science  was  taught.1 

SPREAD  OF  THE  LABORATORY  IDEA 

The  historical  statements  given  above  show  how  recent 
is  the  acceptance  of  the  laboratory  method  even  in  science 
teaching.  The  enthusiasm  for  the  method  is  as  impressive 
as  its  youth.  It  would  be  impossible  to  turn  the  present 
generation  of  science  teachers  away  from  the  laboratory 
method  of  teaching.  In  spite  of  its  cumbersomeness  of 

1  David  A.  Ward,  The  History  of  Physics  Instruction  in  the  Secondary 
Schools  of  the  I'nitcd  States.  Unpublished  thesis  for  the  Master's  degree 
in  the  Department  of  Education  of  The  University  of  Chicago. 


234     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

administration,  its  demand  for  expensive  equipment,  and 
the  deliberation  which  it  compels  in  teaching  the  results 
of  science,  the  laboratory  method  is  everywhere  accepted  as 
the  true  method.  Indeed,  as  stated  above,  the  literary  sub- 
jects such  as  history  and  English,  the  latter  especially  in 
the  teaching  of  composition,  not  infrequently  adopt  the  term 
"  laboratory  method  "  in  order  to  show  their  recognition  of 
the  effectiveness  of  the  method  worked  out  by  the  sciences. 

REACTION  AGAINST  THE  QUESTION  AND  ANSWER  METHOD 

The  second  innovation  in  method  of  teaching,  namely, 
supervised  study,  came  as  a  reaction  against  the  purely 
examination  method  of  conducting  class  exercises  which 
was  formerly  almost  universal  except  in  laboratory  classes. 
The  examination  method  is  the  familiar  one  of  calling  a 
pupil  to  his  feet  and  then  asking  him  one  question  after 
another  to  find  out  whether  he  has  learned  his  lesson.  If 
he  answers  well,  he  is  marked  with  a  high  grade.  If  he 
answers  badly,  he  is  marked  with  a  low  grade,  reprimanded, 
and  told  to  do  his  work  over. 

The  futility  of  some  of  this  procedure  is  at  once  evident 
if  one  thinks  of  the  student  who  has  made  an  honest  effort 
to  learn  his  lesson,  but  has  failed  because  he  adopted  an 
inefficient  and  often  a  wrong  method  of  getting  the  lesson. 
In  such  a  case  the  pupil  fails  because  he  does  not  know  how 
to  get  his  lesson.  It  therefore  occurred  to  some  progres- 
sive teachers  that  it  was  their  duty  to  inquire  not  merely  into 
the  results  of  the  student's  study  but  also  into  his  methods 
of  study.  The  moment  this  new  idea  is  grasped,  the  function 
of  a  recitation  will  be  seen  to  be  something  more  than  the 
examination  of  pupils.  The  recitation  is  now  coming  to  be 
the  place  where  pupils  learn  how  to  do  intellectual  work, 
how  to  attack  intellectual  problems,  and  how  to  guide  their 
efforts  into  more  economical  and  effective  channels. 


METHODS  235 

INEFFICIENT  METHODS  OF  STUDY 

Observation  of  high-school  pupils  who  are  asked  to  study 
will  always  show  the  need  of  attention  to  methods  of 
study.  The  following  description  of  such  observation  is 
illuminating : 

To  ascertain  to  what  extent  the  other  members  of  the  class 
might  have  this  difficulty,  the  following  experiment  was  tried.  In 
assigning  the  next  lesson,  suggestions  were  given  with  unusual 
care.  The  pupils  were  then  told  that  the  next  fifteen  minutes 
would  be  given  to  studying  the  lesson,  and  that  they  should  begin 
the  assigned  home  work  immediately.  The  experiment  showed  at 
once  that  the  pupils  did  not  appreciate  the  value  of  limited  time, 
for  all  were  slow  in  beginning  work.  It  took  some  of  them  the 
whole  fifteen  minutes  to  go  through  the  technique  of  getting  started. 
Several  evidently  were  not  in  the  habit  of  working  alone,  for  they 
looked  about  helplessly  and  simply  imitated  the  others.  However, 
these  same  pupils  had  come  to  the  classroom  daily  with  the  lessons 
well  prepared.  Very  little  was  accomplished  in  the  fifteen  minutes, 
indicating  that  the  pupils  very  probably  wasted  much  time  in 
studying  their  assignments  of  home  work.  Although  the  class  had 
been  in  the  high  school  only  a  short  time,  the  teacher  had  been 
presupposing  a  habit  of  study  which  did  not  exist.  Much  of  the 
difficulty  is  due  to  lack  of  knowledge  as  to  how  to  study  and  how 
to  use  time  to  advantage.  The  remedy  in  this  case  is,  of  course, 
definite  instruction  as  to  methods  of  study.1 

ORGANIZING  A  SCHOOL  FOK  SLTKRVISKD  STTOV 

The  organization  of  a  school  to  provide  opportunity  for 
supervised  study  is  thus  described  by  the  principal  of  one 
of  the  first  schools  to  undertake  this  type  of  work  on  a 
large  scale  : 

1  K.  R.  Brcslich.  "  Supervised  Study  as  a  Means  of  providing  Supple- 
mentary Individual  Instruction."  Thirteenth  Yearbook  of  the  National 
Society  for  the  Study  of  Kducation,  Part  I,  p.  45.  The  University  of  Chicago 
Press,  1914. 


236     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

We  took  five  minutes  from  each  of  the  six  recitation  periods, 
which  we  have  in  our  school  day,  and  put  these  together  to  make 
a  thirty-minute  study  period  coming  once  a  day.  In  order  that 
each  class  might  receive  the  benefit  of  this  period,  we  arranged 
that  the  first  period  class  use  the  time  on  Tuesday ;  the  second 
period  class  on  Wednesday  ;  and  the  third  period  class  on  Friday ; 
the  following  week  that  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  period  classes 
use  the  period  for  supervised  study.  On  Monday  and  Thursday 
the  teacher  uses  this  study  period  by  having  come  to  her  room  for 
individual  attention,  such  students  as  she  thinks  may  need  individual 
help.  So  much  for  the  plan. 

In  regard  to  the  results,  we  have  found  that  the  plan  is  of 
greatest  advantage  with  the  younger  students,  and  in  the  first  part 
of  a  subject.  That  is,  the  younger  students  need  direction  in 
method  of  study,  and  all  the  students  find  it  helpful  when  learning 
the  method  of  attack  upon  a  new  subject. 

We  find  it  necessary,  of  course,  to  keep  some  definite  check 
upon  the  work  of  the  students.  This  is  done  by  setting  for  them 
certain  concrete  problems  in  their  study.  For  instance,  to  work 
out  a  certain  number  of  examples ;  to  be  ready  to  prove  a  given 
theorem  ;  to  pick  out  the  topic  sentences  in  a  given  paragraph  ;  to 
determine  the  most  important  points  of  a  certain  topic  in  physics ; 
to  pick  out  the  leading  events  in  a  given  historical  topic,  etc.  We 
find  the  method  works  very  well  in  mathematics,  science,  and 
history.  Some  difficulty  has  been  experienced  in  the  study  of  an 
English  classic,  such  as  Macbeth,  in  making  the  work  of  the  study 
period  definite.  We  are  working  at  this  problem. 

Besides  teaching  methods  of  study,  we  have  found  one  de- 
cided advantage  of  this  study  period  is  that  by  reason  of  it,  the 
teacher  gets  a  considerable  insight  into  the  methods  of  study  of 
the  various  students  and  can  discover  those  who  waste  time,  who 
have  faulty  methods  of  attack,  etc. 

Another  point  which  we  have  found  as  a  result  of  this  work 
is  that  the  teachers  themselves  are  not  at  all  clear  as  to  definite 
methods  of  study.1 

1  F.  M.  Giles,  late  principal  of  the  Township  High  School  of  De  Kalb, 
Illinois.  Thirteenth  Yearbook  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of 
Education,  Part  I,  pp.  57-58. 


METHODS  237 

ORGANIZING  SUBJECT-MATTER  FOR  SUPERVISED  STUDY 

One  of  the  recent  elaborate  plans  for  supervised  study  is 
thus  described  by  its  author : 

It  has  been  erroneously  assumed  by  many  writers  that  super- 
vised study  was  synonymous  with  effective  study.  It  has  been 
taken  for  granted  that  schools  administering  supervised-study 
schedules  taught  pupils  how  to  study.  There  is  a  wide  difference 
between  more  study  and  effective  study.  Supervised-study  schedules 
may  secure  the  former  and  miss  the  latter.  Effective  study  depends 
upon  many  elements,  among  them  proper  time  and  place,  concen- 
tration, reading  ability,  organization  habits,  questioning  habits,  and 
memory.  Supervised-study  schedules  mechanically  provide  for  the 
first  two  and  more  nearly  secure  the  third  than  do  other  devices. 
The  remaining  elements  involved  in  the  technique  of  study  are  not 
necessarily  concomitants  of  so-called  supervised  study.  .  .  . 

The  origin  of  the  plan  I  am  about  to  describe  grew  out  of  study 
of  the  classroom  exercise  in  typewriting.  In  the  typewriting  class 
pupils  remain  in  the  same  group,  but  are  individually  apart.  A 
pupil  taking  typewriting  may  stay  out  of  school  for  two  weeks  and 
return  to  the  same  group  in  his  mathematics,  Latin,  and  typewrit- 
ing. In  the  last  subject  he  starts  in  exactly  where  he  left  off  with 
a  distinct  realization  that  his  muscular-mental  co-ordination  has 
been  impaired,  while  too  often  in  the  first  two  subjects  he  takes 
up  the  advanced  work  with  his  classmates  apparently  without  any 
particular  sense  of  loss.  Why  should  he,  if  he  makes  his  grade  ? 
Does  he  not  figure  out  a  distinct  gain  ? 

Two  things  differentiate  the  mechanics  of  the  typewriting  exer- 
cise from  the  mathematics  and  Latin  recitations:  (</)  consecutive, 
daily  assignments  which  the  pupil  may  follow  without  the  guidance 
of  a  teacher;  (b)  individual  responsibility  and  progress  or  an  ac- 
counting for  individual  differences.  Apply  these  same  principles 
to  academic  subjects  and  it  becomes  necessary  to  provide  printed 
daily  lesson  assignments  and  to  check  upon  individual  preparation 
of  these  daily  assignments.  One  added  factor,  however,  appears 
with  the  academic  subject  which  uniquely  distinguishes  it  from  the 
manual,  namely,  the  expression  of  the  lesson  ideas. 


238     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

In  typewriting  the  pupil  during  the  exercise  concretely  and 
muscularly  shows  the  teacher  how  well  he  understands  the  lesson. 
In  academic  subjects  the  understanding  must  first  be  tested  by 
language  expression.  There  is  no  machine  yet  invented  for  elim- 
inating this  language-expression  exercise.  Consequently  for  all 
academics  there  must  always  remain  the  recitation  period.  Throw- 
ing one's  ideas  into  a  language  mold  is  not  the  same  as  expressing 
one's  ideas  by  mechanical  means.  For  this  reason  the  recitation 
period  must  always  be  stressed.  .  .  . 

The  laboratory-recitation  plan  is  based  on  the  fundamental  idea 
that  recitation  groups  should  be  organized  on  the  basis  of  prepara- 
tion. Pupils  need  not  recite  on  the  day's  preparation,  but  the 
recitation  for  the  day  is  upon  work  previously  prepared  and  tested. 
The  recitation  teacher  knows  that  when  his  group  assembles  each 
and  every  pupil  has  previously  prepared  and  has  been  checked  in 
the  work  to  be  recited  upon,  otherwise  the  pupil  would  not 
be  in  the  group.  This  is  accomplished  by  the  following  modus 
operandi : 

Co-operating  laboratory-recitation  teachers.  Forty  or  fifty  pupils 
are  assigned  to  a  certain  laboratory-recitation  period  operated  by 
two  teachers  —  one  the  laboratory,  the  other  the  recitation,  teacher 
—  in  adjoining  rooms.  While  the  laboratory  teacher  is  supervising 
the  preparation  of  lessons  during  the  ninety-minute  period,  the 
co-operating  recitation  teacher  is  conducting  recitations  with  groups 
of  pupils  taken  from  the  laboratory  on  the  basis  of  their  preparation. 
For  illustration,  each  Friday  the  laboratory  algebra  teacher  in  the 
second  period  will  give  the  co-operating  recitation  teacher  of  that 
class  and  period  the  advancement  of  the  slowest  pupil  in  each  of 
two  or  three  recitation  groups  previously  determined  on  the  basis 
of  laboratory  preparation.  The  recitation  teacher  prepares  his 
work  for  the  following  week  on  the  basis  of  this  information.  If 
there  are  three  groups,  the  recitation  teacher  devotes  thirty  minutes 
to  each  group  ;  if  two  groups,  forty-five  minutes.  The  pupil  spends 
either  one-half  or  two-thirds  of  each  period  in  the  laboratory,  the  time 
depending  upon  the  number  of  groups  into  which  the  recitation 
has  been  divided,  and  the  remaining  time  in  citation.1 

1 1.  M.  Allen,  "  Experiments  in  Supervised  Study."  School  Review, 
Vol.  XXV,  No.  6  (June,  1917),  pp.  401-404. 


METHODS  239 

EXPERIMENTS  IN  METHOD 

The  meaning  of  experiments  such  as  have  been  described 
is  not  far  to  seek.  The  ingenious  supervisor  or  teacher  who 
has  watched  the  ordinary  recitation  made  up  of  a  series  of 
questions  and  answers  recognizes  the  fact  that  such  a  reci- 
tation is  very  formal.  His  efforts  to  improve  teaching  will 
carry  him  into  new  types  of  class  exercises.  The  laboratory 
type  of  exercise  will  serve  better  in  certain  cases  ;  in  others, 
the  supervised-study  type.  Sometimes  it  is  desirable  to  try 
other  experiments.  Without  attempting  to  deal  with  these 
other  experiments  in  detail,  it  may  be  well  to  enumerate 
some  of  the  types  of  class  exercise  which  have  not  been 
discussed  in  full. 

The  lecture  method  is  common  in  higher  institutions. 
In  the  primary  grades  this  method  has  taken  the  form  of 
story-telling  and  has  been  developed  of  late  with  elaborate 
technique. 

The  study  lesson  is  a  name  which  has  been  used  to 
describe  an  exercise  in  which  the  pupils  study  new  material 
on  which  they  have  not  prepared  in  advance.  The  special 
forms  of  this  kind  of  exercise  may  vary  from  a  critical 
reading  together  of  an  advanced  section  of  the  textbook 
to  a  series  of  readings  by  members  of  the  class  of  various 
scattered  sources  in  collateral  books. 

A  report  lesson  is  a  modification  of  the  lecture  method. 
The  members  of  the  class,  rather  than  the  teacher,  furnish 
the  lecture  material ;  each  student  having  prepared  a  part 
of  the  whole  in  advance  has  an  opportunity  to  present  his 
findings  to  the  class,  with  the  result  that  the  subject  is 
studied  in  full  through  the  cooperative  efforts  of  all. 

The  laboratory  vthod  may  take  on  the  form  of  field 
excursions  in  tii  geographical  sciences  and  the  form  of 
gardening  in  agriculture.  Whatever  its  form  it  is  one  of  the 
most  radical  departures  from  the  traditional  class  exercise. 


240     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

Shopwork  has  become  common  in  many  lines.  With  the 
girls  the  class  exercises  in  domestic  science  and  domestic 
art  are  crosses  between  construction  exercises  and  investi- 
gation exercises. 

Drill  exercises  in  mathematics  and  language  consist  in 
the  performance  under  the  teacher's  supervision  of  a  series 
of  tasks  which  are  designed  to  cultivate  fixed  habits  in  the 
fields  to  which  they  belong.  Very  often  such  exercises  are 
conducted  in  such  a  way  that  each  pupil  works  individually. 

Written  examinations  ought  to  be  included  here.  When- 
ever a  class  is  given  a  series  of  review  questions  for  the 
purpose  of  requiring  a  general  review  of  a  whole  subject, 
the  result  of  the  exercise  is  to  fix  in  the  student's  mind 
certain  larger  elements  of  the  study  and  to  establish  certain 
broad  habits  of  selection.  Written  examinations  may  be, 
from  this  point  of  view,  devices  of  training,  not  merely 
tests  of  results.  The  examination  method  as  a  training 
method  has,  accordingly,  an  important  place. 

The  cooperative  recitation  is  one  in  which  the  pupils  ask 
the  questions.  The  teacher  withdraws  as  far  as  possible, 
and  allows  the  members  of  the  class  to  initiate  the  dis- 
cussions. When  this  kind  of  exercise  is  first  introduced, 
the  pupils  are  likely  to  follow  as  closely  as  they  can  the 
manner  of  questioning  which  they  have  seen  exhibited  by 
their  teachers.  If  the  experiment  is  carried  out  persistently, 
the  pupils  will  ultimately  become  quite  independent  and 
spontaneous  in  their  questioning. 

METHOD  AS  A  SUBJECT  OF  SCIENTIFIC  TESTS 

Class  exercises  are  thus  seen  to  differ  in  form  and  in 
results.  When  the  student  of  standards  begins  to  make  his 
tests  and  measurements,  he  finds  an  inviting  field  for  study 
in  the  different  effects  which  follow  the  various  types  of 
exercises  enumerated  above. 


METHODS  241 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

Methods  can  be  discussed  from  various  points  of  view.  Let 
the  student  consider  methods  in  relation  to  the  different  subjects 
of  instruction.  How  will  the  method  of  teaching  manual  training 
compare  with  the  method  of  teaching  Latin  or  arithmetic  or  music? 
Again,  let  the  relation  of  method  to  the  maturity  of  pupils  be 
discussed.  What  can  be  done  in  a  high-school  class  in  English 
that  is  not  possible  with  an  elementary  class  ?  In  this  connection 
what  are  the  methods  of  teaching  adults  ?  Does  a  preacher  exhibit 
method  in  his  preaching  ?  What  is  the  method  of  a  writer  in  a 
newspaper  as  distinguished  from  the  method  of  a  writer  of  novels  ? 
Methods  can  be  considered  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  teacher's 
personality  and  equipment.  Are  there  any  natural  differences 
between  the  methods  of  men  and  women  in  teaching  ?  Classify 
teachers  with  respect  to  the  aggressiveness  of  their  methods  of 
attack.  Some  are  very  quiet  and  require  the  pupils  to  do  most  of 
the  talking ;  others  are  not. 

In  the  Appendix  will  be  found  a  list  of  questions  designed  to  aid 
in  the  observation  of  classroom  methods. 

CHARTERS,  W.  W.  Methods  of  Teaching.  Row,  Peterson  &  Company, 
Chicago. 

EARHART,  L.  B.    Types  of  Teaching.    Houghton  Mifflin  Company. 

McMuRRY,  C.  A.  The  Elements  of  General  Method.  Public  School 
Publishing  Company,  Bloomington,  Illinois. 

PARKER,  S.  C.  Methods  of  Teaching  in  High  Schools.  Ginn  and 
Company. 

STRAYER,  G.  I).  A  Brief  Course  in  the  Teaching  Process.  The 
Macmillan  Company. 

STRAYER,  G.  D.,  and  NORSWORTHY,  N.  How  to  Teach.  The  Mac- 
millan Company. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

CLASSROOM  MANAGEMENT 

INTELLECTUAL  PROGRESS  AND  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 

The  last  chapter  dealt  with  the  intellectual  side  of  class 
exercises.  The  recitation  has  for  its  final  purpose  the  con- 
veying and  fixing  of  certain  ideas  and  methods  of  thinking. 
But  this  end  can  be  reached  only  when  the  social  condi- 
tions within  the  class  are  properly  under  control.  The 
teacher  is  concerned,  therefore,  not  alone  with  intellectual 
instruction  ;  he  is  concerned  also  with  what  is  sometimes 
called  school  government  or  school  discipline.  If  the  class 
is  in  a  riot,  it  is  impossible  to  make  any  headway  with  his- 
tory or  arithmetic.  Young  and  inexperienced  teachers  are 
often  ineffective  because  they  do  not  know  the  art  of  social 
management.  They  know  the  subject-matter  which  is  to  be 
impressed  on  the  minds  of  the  pupils,  but  they  do  not 
understand  the  serious  social  distractions  which  are  sure 
to  arise  at  times  in  a  group  of  immature  human  beings. 

SOCIAL  TRAINING  GENERAL 

The  social  conditions  necessary  for  successful  classroom 
work  are  often  dependent  on  the  general  discipline  of  the 
whole  school  rather  than  on  the  momentary  situation.  If 
the  general  social  tone  of  a  school  building  is  low,  the  best 
teacher  is  likely  to  find  himself  handicapped.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  social  management  outside  the  classroom  is 
efficient,  a  given  teacher  who  is  not  skillful  in  organizing 
his  class  may  get  on  without  serious  disturbance. 


CLASSROOM  MANAGEMENT  243 

There  is  another  sense,  also,  in  which  the  problem  of 
management  is  a  general  one.  The  effect  of  class  manage- 
ment on  the  pupil's  life  is  profound.  The  school  cooperates 
with  the  home  and  often  outweighs  the  home  in  determin- 
ing the  pupil's  ideals  of  social  life.  These  ideals  are  not 
so  much  matters  of  intellectual  training  as  of  social  habit. 
The  influence  of  a  teacher  over  his  pupils  is  often  due  quite 
as  much  to  the  way  in  which  he  manages  the  class  as  to  the 
subject-matter  which  he  teaches. 

TYPES  OF  SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION 

A  social  situation  can  often  be  anticipated  and  condi- 
tions can  be  prearranged  so  as  to  direct  all  the  participants 
into  lines  of  activity  which  are  desirable.  In  considering 
classroom  organization  it  is  important  that  we  recognize,  first, 
the  possibilities  of  prearrangement.  The  more  experienced 
a  teacher  becomes,  the  more  he  can  anticipate  situations. 

Second,  there  are  forms  of  class  organization  which  facili- 
tate social  cooperation,  such  as  arranging  pupils  in  line. 
This  is  recognized  outside  the  school,  and  it  is  a  common 
practice  to  arrange  people  in  line,  when,  for  example,  they 
are  securing  tickets.  The  management  of  groups  of  people 
can  best  be  carried  on  by  the  adoption  of  such  forms. 
There  need  be  nothing  artificial  about  the  forms  if  they  are 
not  overdone.  The  skillful  teacher  often  uses  formal  routine 
to  keep  the  class  moving  as  a  unit. 

Third,  there  is  no  social  group  which  does  not  at  times 
profit  by  a  critical  review  of  situations  after  they  are  over. 
Punishment  is  meted  out  by  society  to  those  who  have 
failed  to  conform  to  social  demands.  On  the  other  hand, 
rewards  are  given  to  those  who  have  promoted  in  conspic- 
uous ways  the  interests  of  the  group.  Both  punishments 
and  rewards  are  to  be  recognized  as  educative  devices,  and 
should  be  used  in  the  school  only  when  they  are  such.  The 


244     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

future  welfare  of  society  is  what  should  be  in  mind  in  every 
expression  of  judgment  on  past  performances. 

Briefly  put,  social  management  deals  first  with  conditions 
before  the  group  comes  together ;  second,  with  the  forms 
necessary  while  the  group  is  together ;  and  third,  with  the 
rewards  or  punishments  which  should  follow  an  act  in  the 
interests  of  future  behavior. 


SOCIAL  CONTROL  THROUGH  ANTICIPATION 

Examples  of  anticipatory  arrangements  are  not  difficult  to 
find.  All  the  material  equipments  of  the  school  contribute 
to  class  management.  The  division  of  the  building  into 
small  classrooms  provides  for  the  division  of  the  school  into 
manageable  groups.  The  arrangement  of  seats  and  the  pre- 
cautions against  the  noise  and  distraction  which  result  from 
the  shuffling  about  of  furniture  are  further  examples  of 
preparation  in  advance  for  the  management  of  classes. 

In  like  fashion,  the  program  for  the  day  is  worked  out 
in  advance  by  the  wise  administrator.  This  program  pro- 
vides for  a  distribution  of  work  and  recreation  such  that 
there  will  be  no  undue  tax  on  the  child.  The  third-grade 
pupil,  for  example,  cannot  sit  still  for  thirty-five  minutes  at 
a  time,  so  the  teacher  changes  the  character  of  the  exercise 
at  the  end  of  every  twenty  or  thirty  minutes. 

Anticipatory  measures  of  the  type  here  pointed  out  are 
usually  not  thought  of  by  the  inexperienced  teacher  as 
devices  of  class  management.  Class  discipline  is  usually 
assumed  to  be  a  matter  of  the  moment.  If  one  will  learn 
to  look  ahead,  it  is  surprising  how  far  most  situations  can 
be  anticipated.  The  first  day  a  teacher  meets  a  class  it  is 
possible  to  foresee  that  it  will  be  safer  to  require  certain 
members  of  the  group  to  sit  apart.  It  is  better  to  arrange 
their  seats  at  once  rather  than  to  wait  until  an  overt  act 
precipitates  a  separation  as  a  punishment. 


CLASSROOM  MANAGEMENT  245 

The  fact  is  that  unfavorable  social  situations  usually  grow 
out  of  conditions  that  are  remote  and  cannot  be  dealt  with 
adequately  at  the  moment.  The  disorderly  boy  is  often  one 
whose  physical  condition  is  unfit.  The  school  is  beginning 
to  recognize  the  importance  of  proper  feeding  and  proper 
hours  of  sleep,  and  is  taking  steps  to  see  that  pupils  receive 
at  home  and  at  the  luncheon  hour  the  kind  of  hygienic 
attention  which  will  prepare  them  for  the  work  of  the  class. 
The  social  situation  in  the  classroom  is  thus  anticipated  by 
a  whole  series  of  preparatory  moves  which  at  first  sight 
seem  remote  from  the  teacher's  direct  task  of  meeting  a  class. 

The  attitude  which  is  encouraged  by  a  study  of  antici- 
patory measures  is  the  same  as  that  which  is  coming  into 
the  practice  of  medicine.  There  was  a  time  when  the  phy- 
sician regarded  it  as  his  chief  duty  to  deal  with  disease 
after  it  had  actually  appeared.  To-day  the  far-sighted  prac- 
titioner is  an  advocate  of  what  he  calls  preventive  medicine. 
He  aims  to  get  the  community  interested  in  preparing  in 
advance  wholesome  conditions  which  will  conduce  to  health. 
The  teacher's  task  ought  not  to  be  that  of  constantly  penal- 
izing pupils  who  have  done  wrong ;  it  should  be  rather  that 
of  preparing  conditions  which  will  reduce  disorder  to  a 
minimum  and  promote  to  its  highest  degree  orderly  pro- 
cedure in  the  class. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  ROUTINE 

The  anticipation  of  social  needs  passes  insensibly  into 
the  organization  of  regular  forms  of  routine  to  be  followed 
in  the  class  exercise  itself.  The  class  exercise  is  not  dif- 
ferent in  its  essentials  from  any  social  gathering.  It  has 
been  found  necessary  in  meetings  of  any  type  to  require 
one  who  would  speak  to  secure  the  floor.  It  would  lead  to 
social  chaos  if  everyone  in  an  assembly  spoke  his  mind 
according  to  his  own  personal  impulse. 


246     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

The  difficulty  in  applying  this  analogy  to  the  classroom 
and  the  difficulty  in  general  about  all  fixed  routine  is  that 
free  discussion  is  often  defeated  by  formality.  The  teacher 
is  anxious,  if  he  understands  his  task,  to  draw  out  the 
enthusiastic  response  of  every  member  of  his  class.  How  to 
do  this  and  at  the  same  time  avoid  confusion  which  will 
disturb  the  whole  group  is  a  nice  problem  of  adjustment. 
Formal  methods  should  be  required  and  adhered  to  far 
enough  to  insure  the  smooth  operation  of  the  social  life  of 
the  class,  but  spontaneity  should  be  prized  and  conserved. 

Another  and  perhaps  more  fortunate  example  of  routine 
to  avoid  confusion  is  to  be  found  in  an  effective  beginning 
of  a  class  exercise.  When  a  recitation  is  about  to  begin,  it 
is  a  matter  of  major  importance  that  the  teacher  be  ready 
with  something  which  will  attract  the  attention  of  the  whole 
class.  Some  instructors  accomplish  this  with  the  first  ques- 
tion ;  some  resort  to  such  a  device  as  the  announcement  of 
the  next  assignment ;  some  begin  with  a  summary  of  the 
last  lesson ;  some  have  the  members  of  the  class  write  for 
a  few  minutes.  In  sharp  contrast  with  these  methods  which 
indicate  that  the  instructor  is  ready  and  knows  what  he 
wants  done  are  the  aimless  wanderings  of  some  instructors 
who  look  over  their  desks  for  a  book  which  seems  to  be  lost 
in  the  debris,  or  the  time-consuming  roll  call  indulged  in 
by  others. 

A  third  type  of  illustration  of  orderly  procedure  is  the 
systematization  of  methods  of  passing  in  material.  If  pupils 
arrange  their  written  work  or  their  books  or  other  material 
in  a  regular  fashion,  there  will  be  no  disorder  in  handling 
them.  The  social  group  will  move  as  a  unit,  and  this  com- 
mon movement  will  itself  make  for  social  solidarity. 

There  is  much  sanction  in  social  psychology  for  this 
emphasis  on  routine.  The  customs  of  primitive  peoples 
take  on  the  character  of  sacred  rites,  so  essential  are  they 
to  the  common  life  of  the  social  group.  Even  in  civilized 


CLASSROOM  MANAGEMENT  247 

society  the  demands  of  the  group  are  paramount.  There  is 
in  the  family  a  fixed  time  for  eating  meals,  not  because 
hunger  coincides  in  its  reappearances  with  the  movements 
of  the  clock  but  because  the  joint  activities  of  a  social 
group  proceed  better  when  they  are  systematized. 

The  routinizing  of  school  work  can  go  too  far.  The  re- 
quirement has  been  imposed  within  the  memory  of  this 
adult  generation  that  pupils  sit  in  their  seats  through  long 
recitation  periods  with  their  hands  behind  their  backs. 
Marching  in  lockstep  from  class  to  class  has  sometimes 
been  required.  The  list  could  be  lengthened  indefinitely. 
The  trouble  in  most  of  these  cases  is  that  the  teacher  loses 
sight  of  the  educational  motive  of  all  discipline  and  begins 
to  think  of  so-called  order  as  an  end  in  itself. 

PUNISHMENTS  AND  REWARDS 

Even  after  a  situation  has  been  as  carefully  organized  as 
is  humanly  possible,  there  are  sure  to  come  social  emer- 
gencies. These  furnish  occasions  for  a  type  of  discipline 
which  is  valuable  not  so  much  for  the  effect  which  it  pro- 
duces on  the  present  situation  as  for  its  effect  on  the 
future.  Furthermore,  there  is  often  very  little  expectation 
that  the  future  will  bring  an  exact  repetition  of  the  par- 
ticular situation  which  has  just  passed.  The  discipline  is 
therefore  general  in  its  type  rather  than  specifically  appli- 
cable to  the  present. 

Viewed  as  a  general  preparation  for  the  future,  the  social 
condemnation  or  approval  of  an  act  is  often  very  important. 
For  example,  a  boy  breaks  something  through  sheer  careless- 
ness. Shall  the  teacher  pass  the  act  without  comment,  or 
shall  the  act  be  made  an  occasion  for  punishment  ?  Some 
people  are  disposed  to  determine  what  kind  of  treatment 
shall  be  given  in  terms  of  the  value  of  the  object  broken. 
This  is  evidently  to  make  of  the  specific  act  a  specific  issue. 


248     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

It  is  better,  if  it  can  be  done,  to  detach  attention  from  the 
specific  act  and  note  the  general  consequences  of  careless- 
ness. Educationally,  the  accident  furnishes  an  opportunity 
to  warn,  not  against  breaking  that  particular  object  again, 
but  against  being  careless.  If  the  lesson  is  well  taught,  it 
will  tend  to  keep  the  boy  from  rushing  about  in  the  future 
without  regard  for  his  surroundings,  whatever  those  sur- 
roundings may  be. 

Commendation,  like  blame,  is  useless  except  as  it  sets 
up  in  the  pupil's  mind  true  canons  of  judgment.  To  praise 
a  child  for  a  particular  act,  merely  concentrating  attention 
on  that  act,  is  to  neglect  the  opportunity  of  cultivating  a 
general  virtue. 

So  complicated  are  the  issues  touched  on  in  the  last  few 
paragraphs  that  many  teachers  feel  that  the  safest  course  is 
to  avoid  praise  and  blame  as  far  as  possible  and  allow 
natural  consequences  to  open  the  eyes  of  children  to  the 
virtue  or  error  of  their  ways.  Social  approbation  and  social 
condemnation  are  thought  of  as  something  highly  artificial 
and  to  be  avoided.  Experience  does  not  justify  this  view. 
Social  life  has  its  rewards  and  its  punishments,  and  the 
child  will  miss  a  large  part  of  his  education  if  he  does  not 
come  to  understand  the  importance  to  him  of  social  values. 

Let  us  consider  a  concrete  case.  A  group  of  small  boys 
in  the  fourth  grade  hid  the  rubbers  and  umbrella  of  a  little 
girl  in  their  grade  one  rainy  noon,  so  that  the  girl  was  much 
delayed  in  starting  home  for  luncheon  and  was  much  dis- 
tressed. What  could  be  done  ?  The  range  of  ordinary 
school  punishments  seems  very  limited.  In  earlier  days 
there  was  a  form  of  punishment  capable  of  the  nicest  gra- 
dations and  of  universal  application  for  every  offense.  But 
corporal  punishment  has  gone,  and  if,  from  among  the 
remaining  possibilities,  properly  adjusted  punishment  is  to 
be  administered,  it  must  be  devised  with  ingenuity  and  reg- 
ulated in  quantity.  The  teacher  in  the  case  referred  to  hit 


CLASSROOM  MANAGEMENT  249 

on  the  plan  of  making  the  three  little  boys  serve  the  girl  for 
a  week.  They  brought  her  coat  and  hat  to  her  after  school. 
She  sent  them  on  errands  to  the  library.  They  learned 
more  under  the  careful  observation  of  the  class  about  how 
boys  should  treat  others,  especially  girls,  than  they  could 
possibly  have  thought  out  in  long  months  of  freedom  from 
the  bonds  of  service. 

Legitimate  praise  is  perhaps  harder  to  administer  with 
equity  than  punishment.  The  teacher  holds  up  a  child's 
drawing  and  calls  attention  to  its  excellences.  The  danger 
is  that  the  child  will  become  self-conscious  and  conceited. 
A  boy  is  polite  and  the  teacher  remarks  on  the  fact.  The 
other  boys  in  the  class  who  have  not  of  late  merited  such 
praise  make  a  virtue  of  their  freedom  from  the  taint  of  the 
teacher's  praise. 

The  difficulty  of  laying  down  any  principles  regulating 
punishment  and  praise  is  that  cases  cannot  be  discussed 
intelligently  without  reference  to  the  general  social  situations 
in  which  they  find  their  setting.  It  may  be  said,  indeed, 
that  when  an  act  is  performed,  it  is  too  late  to  deal  with  it 
adequately  in  any  case.  The  only  effective  form  of  class- 
room management  is  that  which  anticipates  the  act  and 
develops  a  social  atmosphere  in  which  condemnation  or  ap- 
probation is  naturally  and  spontaneously  contributed  by  the 
whole  group. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  good  school  discipline  is  to  be 
found  only  where  there  is  no  discipline.  This  remark  is 
true  only  when  discipline  is  thought  of  as  synonymous  with 
punishment  administered  ;  it  assumes  that  the  administra- 
tion of  such  punishment  is  the  chief  or  only  form  of  dis- 
cipline. In  a  larger  view  of  the  situation  one  should 
recognize  that  the  !>cst  school  discipline  is  that  which 
guides  the  social  group  at  all  times  and  controls  its  atti- 
tudes toward  all  acts.  The  spirit  of  a  class  is  no  accident 
of  the  moment.  That  teacher  has  the  best  discipline  who 


250     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

has  planned  and  prepared  the  social  situation  so  carefully 
that  a  departure  from  the  established  order  brings  an  in- 
stant and  wholesome  response  from  the  whole  group. 

LARGER  SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION 

With  this  larger  view  of  discipline  in  mind,  one  may  legit- 
imately introduce  into  this  discussion  a  reference  to  those 
forms  of  elaborate  organization  of  the  school  group  which 
are  sometimes  attempted  in  the  school-city  or  the  school- 
state.  Under  these  plans  the  pupils  of  a  school  are  organized 
into  an  imitation  city  or  state  patterned  after  the  adult  cor- 
poration. The  purpose  of  such  an  experiment  is  twofold. 
First,  the  conduct  of  a  miniature  organization  prepares  the 
pupils  for  participation  in  later  life  in  the  duties  of  citizen- 
ship, and  second,  there  grows  up  a  feeling  of  responsibility 
for  the  conditions  in  the  immediate  social  group.  The 
officers  of  the  school-city  are  more  active  than  they  would 
otherwise  be  in  restraining  their  fellows  from  possible  dis- 
order and  in  promoting  acts  which  redound  to  the  advantage 
of  all. 

These  elaborate  organizations  are  educational  devices 
which  often  stimulate  great  interest  and  serve  their  twofold 
purpose  admirably.  In  general,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  a  sense  of  responsibility  cannot  be  cultivated  in  a  day 
and  is  not  the  natural  possession  of  an  immature  mind. 
Unless  there  is  constant  supervision  the  school-city  is  likely 
to  go  on  the  rocks  even  as  a  real  municipality  suffers  from 
the  tendency  of  human  nature  to  backslide.  The  teacher 
must  bring  to  the  school-city  those  experiences  and  those 
social  stimulations  which  will  train  and  keep  alive  the 
community  spirit. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  assume  that  social  organization  exists 
only  where  it  finds  expression  in  some  such  elaborate  form  as 
is  discussed  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs.  Social  attitudes 


CLASSROOM  MANAGEMENT  251 

of  some  kind  are  always  present.  The  teacher  who  leaves  the 
matter  to  mere  chance  runs  risks.  The  teacher  who  over- 
does organization  suffers  from  the  reaction  which  commonly 
follows  restraint.  The  teacher  who  deals  with  the  situation 
with  plan  and  foresight  may  mold  the  social  group  into  a 
helpful  agency  contributing  greatly  to  the  work  of  the  school. 

ATTEMPTS  TO  CLASSIFY  UNRULY  MEMBERS  OF  THE 
SOCIAL  GROUP 

However  carefully  the  social  whole  has  been  organized, 
there  comes  a  time  when  an  unruly  member  appears.  The 
teacher's  task  is  then  to  defend  the  group  and  bring  the 
eccentric  member  if  possible  under  the  influence  of  the  social 
order. 

In  a  very  interesting  chapter  in  his  volume  on  "  School 
Discipline  "  Professor  Bagley  has  supplied  the  evidence  that 
no  classroom  can  be  regarded  as  free  from  the  appearance 
of  unruly  types  of  students.  Even  good  teachers  of  long 
experience  who  in  general  are  free  from  difficulties  with  the 
discipline  of  their  classes  find  it  necessary  to  give  special 
attention  to  the  troublesome  types.  These  types  are  described 
by  Professor  Hagley  as  including  the  following  :  the  stub- 
born pupil  who  makes  difficulty  because  he  is  constantly 
refusing  to  fit  into  the  social  order ;  the  haughty  pupil  who 
is  not  merely  conceited  but  in  his  ordinary  performances 
disturbs  the  regular  social  routine  by  his  overbearing  atti- 
tude both  toward  his  fellows  and  his  teacher ;  the  self-com- 
placent pupil  who  cannot  be  aroused  to  activity  by  any  of 
the  ordinary  inducements  that  are  presented  by  the  school. 
Other  types  include  the  irresponsible  pupil,  the  morose 
pupil,  the  hypersensitive  pupil,  the  deceitful  pupil,  and  the 
vicious  pupil. 

This  collection  of  unmanageables  fortunately  docs  not  turn 
up  in  any  single  class  at  one  time,  but,  as  Professor  Hagley 


252      THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

remarks,  it  would  be  unwise  for  us  to  leave  young  teachers 
with  the  idea  that  the  appearance  of  any  one  of  these  types 
is  due  to  the  teacher's  inefficiency.  Many  an  efficient  young 
teacher  is  baffled  at  the  outset  by  the  difficulties  of  dealing 
with  one  or  another  of  these  types  of  students.  Professor 
Bagley  made  inquiry  of  some  of  the  best  teachers  whom  he 
could  locate,  and  found  that  it  is  inevitable  that  pupils  of 
these  types  are  to  be  found  sooner  or  later  in  every  school. 
The  wise  teacher  does  well  to  plan  in  advance  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  particular  specimen  that  is  sure  to  fall  to  his 
lot  with  every  ten  or  twelve  pupils. 

IMPERSONAL  DISCIPLINE 

The  final  comment  which  may  be  made  in  this  connec- 
tion is  that  the  teacher  must  recognize  that  school  discipline 
is  a  professional  and  educational  problem,  not  a  matter  of 
purely  personal  relations  between  pupil  and  teacher.  The 
teacher  is  dealing  with  a  problem  of  group  organization ; 
he  cannot  allow  the  fractious  pupil  to  pull  him  down  to  the 
level  of  a  personal  controversy.  It  is  difficult  at  times  to 
keep  from  the  strong  emotional  reactions  which  blind  the 
teacher  to  this  objective  view  of  school  order,  but  the  effi- 
cient teacher  will  see  to  it  that  the  group  idea  and  the 
needs  of  the  social  whole  guide  every  act  of  discipline  and 
reward. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

Distinguish  between  pupils  of  different  ages  with  reference  to 
the  form  of  discipline  appropriate.  Does  the  first-grade  child  have 
any  sense  of  responsibility  ?  How  far  can  a  class  in  a  high  school 
be  trusted  to  take  care  of  its  own  order  ? 

A  commission  in  New  York  City,  after  studying  the  cases  of 
disobedient  pupils,  recommended  a  return  to  corporal  punishment. 
What  can  be  said  in  favor  of  such  a  move  ?  What  are  the  evils 
of  corporal  punishment  ? 


CLASSROOM  MANAGEMENT  253 

Society  as  a  whole  has  taken  an  entirely  new  attitude  in  modern 
times  toward  the  matter  of  punishment.  The  prison  policy  of 
modern  nations  is  different  from  the  older  policy.  What  can  be 
said  with  regard  to  prison  education  ?  What  is  the  relation  of 
crime  to  physical  conditions  ? 

With  regard  to  the  matter  of  rewards  and  prizes,  what  can  be 
said  for  and  against  exemption  from  examinations  as  a  reward  for 
good  work  ?  Should  medals  be  given  for  high  scholarship  ?  What 
is  the  attitude  of  society  at  large  outside  of  the  school  in  regard  to 
rewards  ?  For  example,  what  does  society  do  for  the  painter,  the 
author,  the  successful  plumber  and  carpenter  ?  Is  the  example  of 
society  at  large  capable  of  direct  translation  into  school  practice  ? 

BAGLEV,  W.  C.    School  Discipline.    The  Macmillan  Company. 
MOREIIOUSE,  F.  M.    The  Discipline  of  the  School.    D.  C.  Heath  and 

Company. 
PERRV,  A.  C.     Discipline  as  a  School   Problem.     Houghton   Mifflin 

Company. 
SPENCER,   HERBERT.    Education.    Chapter   III  on  Moral   Education. 

D.  Appleton  and  Company. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

SELECTED  ADMINISTRATIVE  PROBLEMS 
PROGRAMS  AND  MARKS 

The  regular  and  orderly  movement  of  a  social  group 
depends  on  the  adoption  of  a  program.  The  daily  program 
of  a  school  is  an  indispensable  formal  device  for  maintain- 
ing that  type  of  solidarity  which  was  discussed  in  the  last 
chapter.  A  second  formal  device  of  school  control  is  the 
marking  system,  under  which  the  pupil's  status  is  deter- 
mined and  in  accordance  with  which  all  his  relations  of 
an  official  type  are  regulated.  The  marking  system  may 
be  treated  as  a  conventional  plan  for  distributing  social  re- 
wards and  punishments.  Together,  the  daily  program  and 
the  marking  system  are  so  much  more  significant  than  any 
other  devices  of  social  organization  that  they  may  properly 
be  selected  for  special  treatment. 

THE  TOTAL  SCHOOL  DAY 

The  arrangement  of  the  daily  program  involves,  first  of 
all,  the  determination  of  the  total  amount  of  time  available 
in  the  school  day.  Reliable  information  on  this  matter  is  at 
hand  for  a  large  number  of  the  smaller  cities  of  the  United 
States,  as  indicated  in  the  following  quotation  : 

The  following  statistics  show  present  conditions  regarding  the 
length  of  the  school  day.  Of  1,270  cities  reporting,  338  have  a 
school  day  of  from  four  and  a  half  to  five  hours ;  521,  from  five  to 
five  and  a  half  hours ;  411,  from  five  and  a  half  to  six  hours.  Of 
1,310  cities  reporting,  1,242  have  two  daily  sessions,  and  68  but 

254 


SELECTED  ADMINISTRATIVE  PROBLEMS      255 

one  daily  session.  The  tendency  is  toward  a  longer  school  day, 
especially  in  the  grammar  grades  and  in  the  high  school.  The 
opinion  of  most  school  men  is  that  a  high  school  of  two  sessions 
is  superior  to  a  high  school  of  one  session.  With  the  one-session 
plan,  but  little  time  is  available  for  study  periods.  It  is  evident 
that  four  recitations,  the  number  generally  required,  demand  more 
than  one  or  two  45  or  50  minute  periods  for  study.  The  theory 
is  that  with  the  one-session  plan  pupils  will  prepare  their  lessons 
at  home  in  the  afternoon.  The  experience  of  the  superintendents 
who  have  tried  the  one-session  plan  has  generally  been  similar  to 
that  of  the  superintendent  of  schools  at  Detroit,  Minn.,  who  says : 

The  one-session  plan  which  I  found  in  vogue  in  this  high  school  was 
retained  for  the  present  year  so  that  its  workings  might  be  studied.  It 
is  fine  in  theory,  but  a  failure  in  practice.  Asking  the  pupils  to  be  ready 
for  work  at  8 : 30  caused  much  tardiness.  It  was  impossible  for  those 
who  came  by  the  bus  or  train  to  be  on  time.  Then  the  fact  that  the  high 
school  had  one  time  schedule  and  the  grades  another,  while  occupying 
the  same  building,  caused  endless  confusion.  During  the  afternoon, 
when  students  came  back  only  for  shop  and  laboratory  work  or  to  con- 
sult teachers,  there  was  further  annoyance  from  students  passing  to  and 
fro  through  the  halls.  There  was  too  much  idling  about  the  buildings 
for  the  good  of  the  grades  in  session  or  of  the  high-school  students 
themselves.  Of  course,  the  fine  theory  was  that  students  would  spend  the 
afternoon  studying  in  the  quiet  and  freedom  of  their  homes,  but  they 
didn't.  Too  many  of  them  roamed  the  streets  and  came  to  class  unpre- 
pared the  next  day.  The  plan  also  kept  the  industrial  teachers  waiting 
until  afternoon  before  they  could  begin  their  work.  They  were  compelled 
to  do  it  when  pupils  were  tired  and  nervous.  This  work  ought  to  be 
interspersed  through  the  day  to  relieve  the  tension  of  the  other  work. 

One  argument  advanced  in  favor  of  the  one-session  plan  is  that  many 
students  work  their  way  through  school  by  using  the  afternoon.  The 
facts  are  otherwise.  This  year  only  three  boys  have  worked  afternoons, 
and  possibly  the  same  number  of  girls. 

Next  year  we  shall  return  to  the  "long  day"  and  lengthen  the  time 
devoted  to  each  subject,  so  as  to  give  teachers  a  better  chance  to  teach  it 
thoroughly.  Each  student  will  also  have  a  longer  time  at  school  to  study 
under  the  supervision  of  the  principal.1 

1  W.  S.  Deffcnbaugh,  "School  Administration  in  the  Smaller  Cities." 
Bulletin  .Vo.fj*  United  States  Hurcau  of  Kducation,  1915,  pp.  40-41. 


256     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

At  Gary  the  eight-hour  school  day  with  variations  in  the 
program  to  secure  play,  shopwork,  class  work,  and  entertain- 
ment is  the  ideal  toward  which  the  system  is  working.  In 
some  other  quarters  the  reduction  of  formal  school  work 
has  been  advocated  on  the  assumption  that  outdoor  work 
and  play  can  be  supplied  by  the  home  or  some  other  agency 
enough  to  fill  up  the  pupil's  waking  hours.  Whatever  the 
form  taken  by  the  discussion,  one  leading  tendency  appears 
everywhere :  the  child's  work  should  be  organized  through- 
out the  day.  In  most  communities  this  means  that  the 
school  will  be  called  on  to  extend  its  control  to  most  of 
the  hours. 

THE  CLASS  PERIOD 

When  the  length  of  the  school  day  has  been  determined, 
the  problem  of  subdividing  the  day  presents  itself.  The 
subdivision  must  first  of  all  recognize  the  claims  of  various 
subjects.  The  type  of  problem  which  arises  at  this  point 
was  discussed  at  length  in  the  chapters  on  the  curriculum, 
and  we  need  not  here  discuss  further  the  claims  of  subjects. 
We  turn  now  to  the  general  problem  of  class  organization 
which  can  be  formulated  in  the  question,  How  long  can  a 
student  profitably  try  to  concentrate  his  attention  on  a 
single  form  of  activity  ? 

PHYSIOLOGICAL  FATIGUE 

The  pupil's  ability  to  work  is  determined  by  certain 
physiological  conditions  which  should  be  understood  by 
every  teacher.  These  conditions  can  be  described  in  a 
brief  study  of  the  physiology  of  fatigue. 

Any  animal  tissue,  as,  for  example,  a  muscle,  is  a  store- 
house of  energy.  Through  nutrition  the  muscle  tissue  is 
kept  in  condition  to  contract.  Whenever  the  muscle  con- 
tracts, it  uses  up  its  own  substance  ;  it  burns  up  its  tissues 


SELECTED  ADMINISTRATIVE  PROBLEMS      257 

to  a  limited  degree.  In  the  process  of  thus  consuming 
its  material  the  muscle  gradually  becomes  clogged  with 
waste  products.  It  is  the  business  of  the  circulatory  system 
in  a  living  organism  to  carry  away  this  waste  material  and 
thus  free  the  muscle  from  the  effects  of  its  contraction. 
The  circulatory  system  also  brings  new  materials  in  the 
form  of  nutrition  to  restore  the  depleted  tissues.  The  res- 
toration of  the  tissue  through  nutrition  is  not  the  demand 
which  is  most  urgent  in  the  case  of  a  muscle  which  is  called 
on  to  contract  for  a  long  period  of  time.  Sooner  or  later 
the  muscle  must,  indeed,  be  brought  back  to  its  normal 
state  of  nutrition,  but  during  actual  contraction  the  most  im- 
mediate physiological  problem  is  to  keep  it  clear  of  its  own 
waste  products.  If  these  waste  products  are  not  removed, 
they  tend  to  interrupt  further  contraction  by  preventing 
the  nerve  fiber  which  enters  the  muscle  from  discharging 
motor  impulses  into  the  muscle.  If  stronger  nervous  im- 
pulses are  sent  through  the  nerve  fiber,  the  muscle,  even 
though  it  is  somewhat  clogged,  will  be  found  in  a  condition 
to  contract  with  its  original  vigor ;  but  if  the  nervous  im- 
pulses are  not  increased,  the  contractions  gradually  diminish 
in  intensity.  This  is  a  condition  of  muscular  fatigue,  and 
is  to  be  distinguished  from  exhaustion,  which  does  not  set 
in  until  the  substance  of  the  muscle  has  been  used  up  to  a 
point  which  endangers  the  tissue. 

Fatigue  is  nature's  effort  to  protect  tissues  against  any 
possibility  of  excessive  use.  Fatigue  sets  in  at  a  period 
long  before  danger  to  the  tissue  is  at  hand.  The  overcoming 
of  fatigue  is  dependent  in  all  cases  on  the  power  to  dispose 
of  waste  products.  The  athlete,  for  example,  becomes  a 
better  runner  chiefly  through  a  training  of  his  organism  to 
carry  away  waste  products.  The  untrained  individual  grows 
stiff  and  sore  from  exercise,  not  because  his  muscles  are 
used  up,  but  because  his  muscles  are  clogged  with  waste 
substances. 


258      THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

This  description  of  muscular  fatigue  lays  the  foundation 
for  an  understanding  of  the  problem  of  nervous  fatigue. 
The  nerve  cells,  like  the  muscles,  get  clogged  by  the  prod- 
ucts of  their  own  action.  They  then  fail  to  carry  nervous 
impulses  freely,  and  the  individual  can  do  his  mental  or 
physical  work  only  with  excessive  effort.  Fatigue  of  nerve 
cells  means  that  nature  has  limits  of  work  in  these  cells. 
Fortunately,  the  limit  is  reached  long  before  exhaustion  or 
other  real  dangers  set  in. 

CONDITIONS  LIKE  FATIGUE 

Matters  are  complicated  by  the  fact  that  physical  condi- 
tions other  than  ordinary  use  produce  fatigue-like  effects  in 
nerve  cells.  Excitement  of  any  kind  rapidly  changes  the 
condition  of  nerve  cells,  and  sometimes  foreign  chemical 
substances  get  into  the  blood,  as  in  fever  or  infection,  and 
produce  a  condition  that  is  in  effect  the  same  as  fatigue. 

Still  further,  as  a  fact  of  large  importance  in  determining 
capacity  for  work,  the  nerve  cells  pass  each  day  through  a 
kind  of  internal  cycle  of  conditions.  At  certain  hours  their 
condition  is  such  that  they  transmit  nervous  impulses  freely, 
and  work  is  easy ;  at  other  hours  work  drags  because  the 
nerve  cells  are  not  prepared  to  be  active ;  their  internal 
chemical  condition  is  such  as  to  obstruct  transmission  of 
impulses.  Thus,  one  is  usually  very  energetic  in  the  middle 
of  the  forenoon,  but  is  logy  at  noon  and  sleepy  at  a  late 
hour  in  the  afternoon.  Marked  individual  differences  appear, 
making  this  statement  merely  a  general  statement.  Further- 
more, personal  habits  can  be  changed  to  some  extent  through 
the  adoption  of  new  habits  of  life. 

Finally,  there  are  all  sorts  of  pathological  conditions  which 
profoundly  affect  the  life  and  action  of  nerve  cells.  Anaemia 
and  malnutrition  may  render  nerve  cells  utterly  incapable 
of  continued  action. 


SELECTED  ADMINISTRATIVE  PROBLEMS      259 

PRACTICAL  PRECEPTS  BASED  ON  STUDY  OF  FATIGUE 

Enough  has  been  said  to  make  it  clear  that  no  simple 
formula  can  be  applied  to  a  group  of  pupils  when  one  tries 
to  determine  for  purposes  of  the  daily  program  how  long 
their  nerve  cells  can  be  kept  at  work  on  a  single  task.  The 
wisest  course  for  the  teacher  to  follow  is  to  be  alert,  and 
when  a  class  reaches  its  limit  of  profitable  work  to  intro- 
duce a  change.  On  the  other  hand,  the  teacher  should  be 
very  discriminating  and  should  understand  that  fatigue  is 
not  a  dangerous  symptom.  For  example,  suppose  that  the 
athlete  always  stopped  his  exercise  just  as  soon  as  he  began 
to  feel  the  necessity  of  sending  stronger  nervous  impulses 
down  to  his  muscles.  He  would  lose  the  best  results  of 
training,  for  these  results  consist  in  the  acquisition  of  the 
power  to  overcome  fatigue.  So  also  with  the  pupil.  The 
acquisition  of  the  power  to  overcome  fatigue  is  a  most 
important  part  of  the  pupil's  training. 

Keeping  the  principles  suggested  in  the  foregoing  dis- 
cussion in  mind,  it  is  relatively  easy  to  arrive  at  certain 
practical  rules  of  program  administration. 

First,  maturity  ought  to  mean  greater  power  of  endurance. 
The  older  classes  should — and  usually  do  —  have  longer 
periods  of  work. 

Second,  the  period  should  be  long  enough  to  stretch 
the  pupil's  powers.  Regulation  of  work  within  this  period 
should  be  left  to  the  teacher,  and  teachers  should  train 
themselves  to  recognize  the  symptoms  of  fatigue  and  to 
judge  when  training  has  gone  as  far  as  it  can  in  over- 
coming fatigue. 

Third,  there  should  be  variety  in  the  program.  The 
nervous  system  is  made  up  of  many  different  centers. 
The  variation  of  occupations  brings  different  centers  suc- 
cessively into  play  and  gives  to  i-ach  the  opportunity  of 
relaxation  which  is  most  wholesome.  A  long  school  day  with 


260     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

much  variety  is  eminently  more  rational  than  a  short  session 
of  work  of  a  single  type  concentrated  into  a  few  hours. 

ADMINISTRATIVE  CONSIDERATIONS  CONTROLLING  LENGTH 
OF  THE  CLASS  PERIOD 

When  recommending  variations  in  the  program  we  collide 
with  what  may  seem  at  first  to  be  an  insuperable  difficulty. 
It  is  impossible  from  an  administrative  point  of  view  to  have 
class  exercises  of  irregular  lengths.  Imagine  what  would  hap- 
pen if  the  mathematics  teacher  should  dismiss  his  class  after 
a  recitation  of  twenty-seven  minutes,  and  the  Latin  teacher 
should  hold  his  for  fifty-three  minutes.  For  administrative 
reasons  class  periods  must  be  measured  by  the  clock. 

This  leads  to  certain  absurdities  in  school  organization. 
For  example,  in  order  to  regularize  credits  in  high  schools 
a  unit  of  credit  has  been  defined  as  a  certain  number  of 
hours  of  class  work.  A  moment's  consideration  makes  it 
perfectly  clear  that  an  English  class  consisting  of  thirty 
freshmen  will  do  less  intensive  work  in  a  forty-minute 
period  than  will  an  advanced  senior  class  of  four  students 
in  trigonometry.  The  administrative  fiction  of  uniformity 
when  like  credit  is  given  for  these  two  classes  is  grotesque. 

The  assignment  of  a  double  period  to  laboratory  classes 
is  likewise  a  concession  to  administrative  convenience  rather 
than  a  carefully  weighed  arrangement.  It  is  easier  to  make 
up  periods  in  multiples  of  the  standard  recitation  time.  But 
it  is  by  no  means  clear  that  the  sciences  can  profitably  use 
double  periods.  The  internal  adjustment  of  laboratory  work 
needs  more  careful  study  than  it  has  received  in  the  past. 
The  laboratory  method,  as  shown  in  an  earlier  chapter,  is 
one  which  has  excited  great  enthusiasm.  Many  a  laboratory 
assignment  which  does  not  fill  the  time  allotted  to  it  is 
tolerated  because  of  the  vague  general  enthusiasm  for  the 
method  and  the  formal  arrangement  of  double  periods. 


SELECTED  ADMINISTRATIVE  PROBLEMS     261 

ADJUSTMENT  OF  WORK  WITHIN  THE  PERIOD 

Such  examples  as  these  show  from  a  new  angle  the  im- 
portance of  the  movement  for  supervised  study  which  was 
described  in  an  earlier  chapter.  The  teacher  in  charge  of 
the  class  must  ultimately  have  at  hand  various  devices,  some 
intended  to  give  play  to  individual  differences,  some  in- 
tended to  promote  social  cooperation.  Then,  while  admin- 
istrative necessity  dictates  a  uniform  period  for  the  class 
exercise,  the  educational  needs  of  the  students  can  be  met 
by  variations  in  the  content  and  method  of  instruction. 

ADJUSTMENT  OF  CREDITS 

Such  a  formula  as  this  dictates  also  the  recognition  in 
an  administrative  way  of  the  differences  between  the  work 
performed  by  different  students.  There  has  been  of  late 
an  increasing  recognition  of  the  justice  of  giving  pupils 
different  degrees  of  credit  for  work  which  they  do  in  one 
and  the  same  course.  The  student  who  carries  a  course  in 
algebra  with  a  high  grade  undoubtedly  learns  more  than 
the  student  who  does  low-grade  work  in  the  same  class. 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  GRADING 

The  proper  distribution  of  credits  opens  up  the  complex' 
problem  of  grading  systems.  The  grading  system  is  the 
basis  of  academic  rewards  and  penalties.  Yet  it  is  recog- 
nized by  pupils  and  teachers  alike  to  be  full  of  pitfalls.  The 
ordinary  system  uses  letters  such  as  E  for  excellent.  P  for 
poor;  or  percentage  designations  such  as  100  for  perfect, 
60  or  75  for  just  passing ;  or  some  other  similar  symbolism. 

The  ambiguities  in  the  system  arise  in  part  out  of  the 
fact  that  individual  teachers  have  the  most  divergent  notions 
as  to  the  meaning  of  each  of  the  symbols. 


262     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

Let  us  assume  the  case  of  a  new  teacher  who  has  just 
come  to  a  given  school  trying  to  find  out  what  the  other 
teachers  mean  by  their  marks.  This  teacher  will  be  told 
that  100  per  cent  means  perfection.  But  what  is  perfection 
in  a  subject  ?  Is  the  student  perfect  when  he  tells  what  is  in 
the  textbook,  or  is  there  a  demand  for  original  thinking  ? 
Still  more  doubtful  is  the  meaning  of  90  per  cent.  Does 
this  signify  nine  tenths  of  what  a  student  might  know,  or 
is  it  a  kind  of  vague  statement  meaning  that  the  student  is 
in  the  upper  part  of  the  class  ? 

The  new  teacher  will  be,  very  likely  at  this  point,  if  he 
is  intelligent  about  marking  systems,  to  ask  how  many  stu- 
dents in  a  class  usually  get  100  or  90.  This  question  is 
based  on  a  conception  of  the  meaning  of  marks  entirely 
different  from  that  which  was  referred  to  in  the  last  para- 
graph. Marks  may  refer,  and  often  do  refer,  not  to  the 
degree  of  perfection  in  knowledge  but  to  the  relative  posi- 
tion of  the  student  in  his  class.  Some  teachers  mark  the 
best  pupil  100  and  then  try  to  grade  the  rest  from  this 
standard. 

EXPERIMENTS  WITH  GRADING  SYSTEMS 

Examples  could  be  multiplied  indefinitely,  showing  that 
there  is  great  vagueness  in  regard  to  the  meaning  of  marks. 
We  are,  however,  more  interested  in  the  efforts  which  are 
being  made  to  overcome  these  unsatisfactory  conditions. 

First,  teachers  are  being  informed  by  comparative  dia- 
grams what  the  relation  of  their  own  marking  system  is  to 
the  general  average  of  their  colleagues.  A  few  years  ago 
the  president  of  Harvard  sent  to  each  member  of  the  faculty 
a  chart  showing  the  curve  of  distribution,  reproduced  in 
Fig.  1 6,  and,  superimposed  on  this,  the  curve  of  the  indi- 
vidual instructor's  marks.  The  standard  curve  was  derived 
by  averaging  the  marks  from  eight  large  courses. 


SELECTED  ADMINISTRATIVE  PROBLEMS      263 

Second,  the  University  of  Missouri l  has  frankly  given  up 
trying  to  determine  whether  students  are  100  per  cent  per- 
fect in  a  subject  or  only  80  per  cent.  All  students  in  all 
classes  are  arranged  in  the  order  of  their  excellence  in  their 
classes.  The  marks,  in  other  words,  are  relative.  When  all  the 
marks  of  the  institution  are  compiled,  there  are  a  few  stu- 
dents who  are  relatively  very  high,  many  who  are  mediocre, 
and  a  few  who  are  low.  The  low  ones  are  dropped,  the  high 


10 


10 


A  B  C  D  E 

FIG.  16.    Distribution  of  grades  in  various  Harvard  classes 

The  full-drawn  line  shows  the  average  percentage  of  grades  in  eight  large  elementary 

courses.  The  dotted  line  and  the  broken  line  represent  two  departures  from  the 

average  practice  by  instructors  in  two  different  departments 

ones  get  honors,  and  the  mediocres  get  the  reward  due  the 
average  student.  On  the  basis  of  this  kind  of  a  classification 
the  University  gives  to  a  student  who  stands  in  the  upper- 
most 5  per  cent  of  his  class  1.2  credits  toward  graduation. 
The  student  in  the  next  lower  20  per  cent  gets  i.i  credits. 
The  50  per  cent  who  are  mediocre  get  the  normal  credit  of 
i.O,  while  the  lower  ranks  are  penalized  from  o.  i  to  all  credit. 


>Max  F.  Meyer.  "The  Administration  of  College  Grades."   .V/*<W  and 
Satiety,  Vol.  II,  No.  43  (October,  1915).  pp   $77-5*<)- 


264     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

A  third  effort  to  improve  the  situation  is  being  tried  in  the 
high  school  of  Kansas  City,  Kansas.1  In  each  classroom  is 
posted  a  conspicuous  chart  telling  students  what  they  must 
do  to  get  high  grades.  One  may  pass  with  a  C  if  one  does 
the  required  work  taken  up  in  a  sixty-minute  combination 
recitation  and  study  period.  If  one  is  to  receive  B,  it  is 
required  among  other  virtues  that  one  be  sufficiently  well 
prepared  to  recite  without  prompting  from  the  teacher. 
Furthermore,  one  must  do  outside  work  and  report  on  it. 
The  C  pupil  does  his  work  in  the  class,  but  that  is  not 
enough  for  a  B.  The  A  pupil  must  fulfill  even  higher  re- 
quirements. Each  department  is  allowed  to  post,  in  addition 
to  the  general  statements  made  for  the  whole  school,  special 
regulations  which  obtain  for  the  work  of  that  particular 
department. 

This  system  is  a  kind  of  public  definition  of  the  marks, 
and  has  the  great  advantage  of  clearing  up  in  the  minds  of 
the  students  what  often  seems  to  them  to  be  an  unjust  and 
mysterious  scheme. 

THE  STUDY  OF  MARKS  AS  AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  A  STUDY 
OF  THE  SCHOOL  SYSTEM 

The  study  of  grading  systems  has  attracted  much  atten- 
tion of  late  among  the  students  of  the  science  of  education. 
It  is  an  excellent  subject  with  which  to  illustrate  scientific 
methods,  because  the  records  being  in  quantitative  form  lend 
themselves  to  easy  and  exact  statistical  comparison. 

There  is  no  better  body  of- material  for  a  principal  to 
employ  in  arousing  his  teachers  to  a  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  they  are  factors  in  a  system.  Marks  are  a  kind  of 
technical  language  used  in  the  school  system.  Their  suc- 
cessful use  calls  for  some  comprehension  of  the  meaning 
and  problems  of  the  system  as  a  whole. 

1  See  article  by  W.  A.  Bailey,  School  Xevie-w,  Vol.  XXV  (May,  1917), 
PP-  30 5-32  i- 


SELECTED  ADMINISTRATIVE  PROBLEMS      265 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

Let  members  of  the  class  make  up  a  school  program.  Let 
there  be  in  a  certain  high  school  eight  teachers,  one  well  qualified 
in  each  of  the  following  subjects:  English,  mathematics,  Latin, 
physics,  biology,  modern  languages,  domestic  science,  and  manual 
arts.  There  are  seven  classrooms  and  a  study  room.  There  are  400 
students,  distributed  as  follows:  140  freshmen,  no  sophomores, 
90  juniors,  and  60  seniors.  The  school  is  in  session  from  8.45  A.M. 
to  12  noon  and  from  1.30  to  3.30  P.M.  Make  up  a  program  of 
classes.  Record  all  the  questions  that  are  not  answered  in  the 
above  statement  of  conditions.  Supply  answers  yourself,  recording 
explicitly  the  answer  which  you  give  in  each  case.  Let  the  mem- 
bers of  the  class  then  compare  programs. 

What  is  the  difference  between  such  a  problem  as  above  defined 
and  the  problem  of  making  out  a  program  for  an  elementary  school  ? 

A  very  good  exercise  under  this  chapter  is  to  give  a  written 
exercise  to  the  class  and  then  ask  the  writers  to  mark  each  his 
own  paper  after  the  question  and  its  possible  answers  have  been 
discussed  by  the  class.  In  like  manner  let  each  member  of  the 
class  mark  a  certain  English  composition  or  a  recitation  made  by 
some  member  of  the  class.  Let  the  members  of  the  class  rate  the 
various  members  of  the  class  in  regard  to  their  work.  After  each 
of  these  markings  make  a  general  table  showing  the  distribution 
of  grades  and  note  the  differences  between  the  different  markers. 

There  is  very  little  written  on  detailed  administrative  problems. 
A  very  good  reading  exercise  at  this  point  can  be  made  up  by 
referring  to  Monroe's  "A  Cyclopedia  of  Education  "  (Macmillan) 
and  requiring  the  student  to  find  ten  strictly  administrative  topics 
and  ten  which  have  to  do  with  methods.  For  most  of  the  articles 
in  the  "Cyclopedia"  reading  references  are  given. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

PLAY 
MOTIVES  FOR  CULTIVATION  OF  PHYSICAL  POWERS 

Recent  educational  practice  has  laid  great  emphasis  on 
the  cultivation  of  children's  physical  natures  as  well  as  their 
mental  powers.  This  new  emphasis  on  physical  training  is 
due  in  part  to  a  recognition  of  the  wisdom  of  extending 
education  so  as  to  include  all  sides  of  the  individual.  It  is 
due  in  part  also  to  the  conviction  that  the  only  way  to  deal 
successfully  with  the  ordinary  work  of  the  classroom  is  to 
provide  the  kind  of  change  and  relief  which  comes  from 
physical  exercise.  Regular  opportunities  for  play  are  accord- 
ingly provided  in  the  schools  of  to-day,  and  an  elaborate 
system  of  physical  supervision  is  being  developed  in  all  the 
leading  school  systems.  Some  review  of  these  movements 
will  be  appropriate  by  way  of  supplement  to  the  general 
survey  in  earlier  chapters  of  the  activities  of  the  school 
system. 

EARLIER  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  PLAY 

The  school  of  a  generation  ago  retained  a  good  deal  of 
the  Puritan  attitude  toward  play.  One  has  only  to  recall 
the  pandemonium  which  used  to  break  loose  at  recess  and 
at  the  time  of  dismissal  to  realize  that  there  was  a  sharp 
distinction  between  school  and  play.  In  school  one  sat  up 
straight  and  still ;  when  one  was  free  from  school  one  let 
out  all  the  pent-up  inner  impulses.  The  kind  of  play  that 
was  exhibited  under  these  conditions  was  riotous,  irregular, 

266 


PLAY  267 

and  aimless.  Furthermore,  the  kind  of  play  which  was  cul- 
tivated under  these  conditions  did  not  carry  over  into  later 
life.  There  was  no  system,  no  progression,  in  that  play,  and 
no  cultivation  of  the  inventiveness  so  necessary  if  the  rec- 
reations of  later  life  are  to  be  intelligent. 

PLAY  AS  NATURAL  BEHAVIOR 

The  change  in  attitude  from  that  of  the  old-fashioned 
school  to  that  of  the  modern  school  is  traceable  in  part  to 
practical  experience  and  in  part  to  a  general  and  funda- 
mental change  in  the  philosophy  of  life.  To-day  there  is 
the  profoundest  respect  for  all  that  is  natural.  The  theo- 
logical attitude  of  medievalism  and  of  the  Puritans  that  the 
body  is  the  baser  part  of  self  has  disappeared  with  the 
development  of  the  biological  sciences.  The  social  sciences, 
too,  have  contributed  the  lesson  that  all  human  behavior  is 
in  accordance  with  certain  natural  laws.  The  philosophy  of 
naturalism  thus  accepted  has  profoundly  modified  the  views 
of  parents  and  teachers  with  regard  to  the  play  impulse  in 
children. 

PERIODS  IN  THE  DEVELOPMENT  or  PLAY 

Not  only  is  play  natural,  but  numerous  scientific  studies 
reveal  the  fact  that  in  the  animal  world  and  in  man's  life 
play  contributes  in  no  unimportant  degree  to  the  individ- 
ual's development.  These  scientific  studies  have  shown 
that  play  follows  definite  lines  of  development.  There  is 
first  the  play  of  early  infancy,  which  consists  in  the  rhyth- 
mical movement  of  the  limbs  and  in  the  grasping  after  ob- 
jects which  satisfy  the  senses.  This  is  the  period  of  the 
rattle.  There  is  at  this  stage  no  regard  for  others,  no  social 
interest.  Then  comes  a  second  stage,  where  play  is  made 
up  of  imitative  acts.  This  is  the  period  of  the  girl's  doll 
and  of  the  boy's  kit  of  t<x>ls.  The  child's  attention  is  now 


268     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

centered  on  others  and  their  doings,  and  this  outward  atten- 
tion furnishes  the  individual  with  his  models  of  action. 
Then  come  the  plays  of  contest  and  competition,  when  the 
child,  now  of  school  age,  matches  himself  against  his  com- 
panions in  speed  or  strength.  This  is  the  period  of  running 
games.  Imitation  has  ripened  into  the  kind  of  rivalry  which 
helps  the  individual  to  realize  his  personal  powers.  Follow- 
ing competition  comes  the  period  of  team  play,  in  which 
social  union  with  some  of  one's  companions  is  combined 
with  contest  against  others.  The  adolescent  child  is  now 
becoming  aware  of  the  uses  of  social  sympathy  and  co- 
operation. At  each  of  these  stages  some  of  the  earlier 
forms  of  play  survive,  and  all  ripen  into  the  form  of  play 
characteristic  of  adult  life,  where  the  competitions  are  against 
intellectual  obstacles  more  than  against  physical.  Adult  play 
demands  skill  and  intellectual  mastery  of  complex  problems. 
When  one  has  learned  that  there  is  a  natural  and  orderly 
evolution  of  the  play  impulse,  one  realizes  that  it  is  rational 
to  follow  this  natural  order  in  promoting  individual  develop- 
ment. Play  takes  on  a  dignity  that  it  never  had  in  the  days 
when  it  was  looked  on  as  an  uncurbed  attribute  of  infancy 
to  be  tolerated  only  because  there  seemed  no  possible  way 
of  eradicating  it. 

PLAY  AS  NATURAL  EDUCATION 

Indeed,  the  scientific  discussions  have  gone  much  further 
than  merely  to  trace  the  course  of  the  development  of  play. 
They  show  why  play  is  to  be  recognized  as  a  necessary 
phase  of  life.  At  first  the  immature  instincts  of  the  child 
tend  to  express  themselves  in  activities  that  are  irregular 
and  ill-coordinated,  but  aimed  unmistakably  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  later  serious  activities  of  adult  life.  The  kitten 
chases  the  ball  in  preparation  for  the  later  activities  of  the 
hunt.  The  explanation  of  this  form  of  early  play  is  that  in 


PLAY  269 

the  young  animal's  nervous  system  there  are  inherited  paths 
which  are  ripening  into  action.  The  impulses  of  life  tend 
to  flow  down  these  inherited  paths  ;  it  is  nature's  method 
of  helping  the  nervous  system  to  mature  to  the  point  of 
full  action. 

When  nature's  processes  have  matured  the  nervous  sys- 
tem, the  lines  of  behavior  of  which  the  individual  is  capable 
are  diverse.  Each  serious  activity  of  life  engages  some  of 
the  individual's  energy  and  brings  to  the  point  of  fatigue  a 
certain  group  of  his  possible  activities.  When  one  part  of 
the  nervous  system  has  been  fatigued,  there  will  always  be 
other  parts  which  have  not  been  used.  For  example,  a  man 
who  reads  for  four  hours  does  not  use  his  arms  and  legs.  At 
the  end  of  the  four  hours  his  reading  powers  will  be  fatigued, 
but  his  arms  and  legs  will  be  overready  for  action.  There 
must  be  some  change  in  activity  and  some  relaxation  from 
serious  work.  Play  is  nature's  answer  to  this  demand. 

SOCIAL  NECESSITY  OF  RECREATION 

In  addition  to  the  scientific  studies  of  the  nature  and 
function  of  play  appears  the  sociological  fact  that  the  growth 
of  leisure  has  created  a  new  demand  for  well-regulated  play. 
Furthermore,  the  conditions  of  urban  life  are  unfavorable 
for  some  of  the  simple  plays  which  in  an  earlier  stage  of 
civilization  furnished  an  outlet  for  the  natural  impulses.  If 
the  environment  is  artificial,  there  must  be  a  deliberate  and 
intelligent  effort  to  supply  what  nature  demands  but  civiliza- 
tion has  made  inaccessible. 

The  danger  in  a  congested  city  where  natural  play  is 
not  possible  is  a  moral  clanger.  There  are  vicious  agencies 
which  arc  not  slow  to  take  advantage  of  the  strong  natural 
demand  for  recreation.  The  result  is  that  for  the  sake  of 
gain  appeals  are  made  to  the  baser  impulses  of  human 
nature.  The  success  of  these  unsavory'  forms  of  amusement 


270     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

attests  the  presence  of  a  strong  natural  demand.  The  way 
to  meet  the  danger  is  to  provide  forms  of  recreation  which 
are  wholesome  and  elevating. 

PLAY  AS  PHYSICAL  EDUCATION 

Finally,  all  the  arguments  in  favor  of  play  are  reenforced 
by  the  general  demand  that  the  physical  condition  of  chil- 
dren in  school  be  made  a  matter  of  especial  concern.  Play 
is  the  form  of  exercise  which  serves  better  than  any  other 
to  keep  the  physical  system  in  good  tone.  Hence  the 
conclusion  that  play  is  as  indispensable  as  it  is  natural. 

THE  SCHOOL  AND  PLAY 

In  the  light  of  these  scientific  and  sociological  studies 
it  is  evident  that  the  school  has  a  task  before  it.  Briefly 
stated,  this  task  is  as  follows  :  Nature  intended  that  the 
child  should  play ;  play  is  a  phase  of  the  child's  natural 
education.  The  conditions  of  life  in  cities  have  deprived 
children  of  the  opportunity  for  the  free  development  of  play. 
The  educational  system  must  take  the  children  in  hand  and 
train  them  back  into  nature's  ways. 

SURVEYS  OF  CHILDREN'S  PLAY  IN  CITIES 

Evidence  that  the  situation  needs  attention  is  furnished 
by  studies  which  have  recently  been  made.  The  following 
quotation  supplies  one  such  body  of  evidence  : 

In  the  hour  and  a  half  following  the  close  of  school  November 
10  and  1 8  careful  observations  were  made  in  all  parts  of  the  town 
at  the  same  time,  by  four  adults  selected  for  the  purpose.  They 
were  instructed  to  look  carefully  through  the  streets,  vacant  lots, 
yards,  parks,  and  playgrounds  and  make  a  notation  of  every  child 
or  young  person  up  to  the  age  of  21,  observed.  The  information 
sought  was  what  each  one  was  actually  doing,  at  play  or  otherwise, 


PLAY  271 

and  where  he  was  doing  it.  They  were  also  asked  to  estimate  the 
ages  of  the  children  observed.  On  November  6  a  preliminary 
sounding  was  made  by  the  investigator.  Each  observer  was 
assigned  definite  territory  so  as  to  avoid  duplication  and  all  worked 
at  exactly  the  same  time.  The  results  of  these  "  soundings " 
have  been  carefully  tabulated  and  summarized. 

Altogether  696  children,  447  boys  and  249  girls,  were  ob- 
served. Of  the  total  number,  262  or  almost  40  per  cent  of  the 
children  and  young  people  were  doing  nothing.  Especially  signifi- 
cant is  the  fact  that  168  of  the  262  idling  boys  and  girls  were 
idling  in  groups.  Here  is  where  mischief  usually  starts.  A  major- 
ity of  those  walking  (203)  were  in  reality  idling.  Fifty-six  or  eight 
per  cent  of  the  children  were  playing  football  and  baseball  and  22 
or  a  fraction  over  three  per  cent  were  occupied  with  other  games. 
A  play  life  the  two  chief  features  of  which  are  idling  and  walking 
indicates  that  the  community  is  not  discharging  its  plain  duty  with 
respect  to  the  boys  and  girls.1 

A  like  result  is  reported  in  the  Cleveland  survey. 

A  play  census,  taken  June  23,  1913,  under  the  direction  of  the 
/Chief  Medical  Inspector  and  Assistant  Superintendent  in  charge 
of  Physical  Education  in  Cleveland,  seemed  to  show  this  same 
lack  of  relationship  between  the  school  and  the  out-of-school 
activities  of  children.  The  results  of  this  study  are  shown  in 
the  following  table.  [Page  272] 

CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FROM  THIS  CENSUS 

1.  That  just  at  the  age  (under  15)  when  play  and  activity  are 
the  fundamental  requirements  for  proper  growth  and  development 
41   per  cent  of  the  children  seen  were  doing  nothing.    The  boy 
without  play  is  father  to  the  man  without  a  job. 

2.  Fifty -one   per   cent    of   all    the    children   seen   were   in    the 
streets,  in  the  midst  of  all  the  traffic,  dirt,  and  heat,  and  in  an 
environment  conducive  to  just  the  wrong  kind  of  play. 

1  Howard  R.  Knight,  Play  and  Recreation  in  a  Town  of  6000  (A 
Recreation  Survey  of  Ipswich,  Massachusetts),  pp.  ;-S.  Russell  Sage 
Foundation,  New  York  City 


272     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 
RECORD  OF  14,683  CLEVELAND  CHILDREN 


BOYS 

.  GIRLS 

TOTAL 

Where  they  were 

On  streets 

5,241 

2,558 

7,799 

seen 

In  yards 

1.583 

1,998 

3.58i 

In  vacant  lots 

686 

197 

883 

In  playgrounds 

997 

872 

1,869 

In  alleys 

4i3 

138 

551 

What   they  were 

Doing  nothing 

3.737 

2,234 

5.97i 

doing 

Playing 

4,601 

2,757 

7,358 

Working 

719 

635 

L354 

What  games  they 

Baseball 

1,448 

190 

1,638 

were  playing 

Kites 

482 

49 

531 

Sand  piles 

241 

230 

47  1 

Tag 

IOO 

53 

153 

Jackstones 

68 

257 

325 

Dolls 

89 

193 

282 

Sewing 

14 

130 

144 

Housekeeping 

53 

191 

244 

Horse  and  wagon 

89 

24 

"3 

Bicycle  riding 

79 

13 

92 

Minding  baby 

19 

4i 

60 

Reading 

17 

35 

52 

Roller-skating 

18 

29 

47 

Gardening 

J3 

M 

27 

Caddy 

6 

0 

6 

Marbles 

2 

o 

2 

Playing  in  other  ways, 
mostly  just  fooling 

|   1,863 

1,308 

3,*71 

3.  That  only  six  per  cent  of  the  children  seen  were  on  vacant 
lots  despite  the  fact  that  in  most  of  the    districts  vacant  lots 
were  available  as  play  spaces.     A  place  to  play  does  not  solve' 
the  problem :  there  must  be  a  play  leader. 

4.  That  even  though  36  playgrounds  were  open  and   16  of 
them  with  apparatus  up,  only  1869,  or  n  percent,  of  the  children 
seen  within  four  blocks  of  a  playground  were  playing  on  play- 
grounds.   Last  Friday  6488  children  played  on  playgrounds. 


PLAY  273 

5.  That  of  the  7358  children  reported  to  have  been  playing, 
3171  were  reported  to  have  been  playing  by  doing  some  of  the 
following  things :  fighting,  teasing,  pitching  pennies,  shooting  craps, 
stealing  apples,  "roughing  a  peddler,"  chasing  chickens,  tying  can 
to  dog,  etc.,  but  most  of  them  were  reported  to  have  been  "just 
fooling  "  —  not  playing  anything  in  particular. 

6.  We  need  more  and  better  playgrounds  and  a  better  trained 
leadership.1 

SYSTEMATIZING  INSTRUCTION  IN  PLAY 

What  is  to  be  done  in  dealing  with  this  situation  ?  Three 
answers  have  been  given.  First,  plays  must  be  arranged  in 
a  sequence  which  will  follow  the  natural  order  of  chil- 
dren's development,  and  when  this  play  course  is  properly 
organized,  children  must  be  given  training  in  play.  The 
training  should  be  of  the  same  kind  as  that  given  in  any 
line,  namely,  such  as  to  stimulate  self-activity  and  full 
utilization  of  the  teacher's  suggestions.  Specialists  in  the 
field  have  found  it  advantageous  to  revive  folk  games  and 
to  call  attention  to  the  interest  which  children  exhibit  in 
festivals  and  dramatic  representations.  In  other  words,  the 
discovery  of  plays  suitable  for  children  is  nothing  but 
the  extension  into  the  field  of  recreation  of  the  type  of 
educational  resourcefulness  which  has  enlarged  the  cur- 
riculum in  every  division  of  the  school.  The  enriched 
course  of  training  in  play  should  be  used  for  the  improve- 
ment of  adults  as  well  as  children,  thus  making  education 
for  play  a  part  of  the  movement  of  educational  extension. 

SURVEY  OF  RECREATIONAL  FACILITIES 

Second,  the  available  resources  of  the  community  for  play 
must  be  canvassed  and  must  be  intelligently  utilized.  In  the 
quotation  from  the  Cleveland  survey  given  above  it  was 

1  (ieorge  }•'..  Johnson,  Kduc;iti»n  through  Recreation,  pp.  48-50.  Cleve- 
land K.ducation  Survey.  Published  by  the  Survey  Committee  of  the 
Cleveland  Foundation,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  1916. 


274     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

pointed  out  that  there  are  vacant  lots  which  are  not  used. 
A  study  of  the  play  facilities  of  the  community  will  also 
show  the  necessity  of  curbing  those  forms  of  recreation 
which  are  undesirable.  A  survey  of  this  kind  should  deal 
not  only  with  the  community's  equipment  for  play  among 
children  but  also  with  the  play  of  adults.  Such  a  survey 
has  been  made  for  the  city  of  Madison,  Wisconsin,  and 
there  is  now  going  on  in  the  city  of  Cleveland  an  exten- 
sive examination  of  all  forms  of  recreation  and  amuse- 
ment together  with  an  investigation  of  their  effects  on 
the  people. 

A  few  extracts  from  the  Madison  survey  will  show  the 
kind  of  findings  which  are  turned  up  by  such  an  inquiry  : 

A  study  of  the  various  sections  of  this  survey  shows  that  play 
or  recreation  occupies  a  great  place  in  the  life  of  the  city.  The 
time,  effort  and  money  put  into  it  is  enormous.  Practically  every 
social  organization,  as  well  as  the  individual  and  home,  is  involved 
in  it.  A  very  large  percentage  of  the  business  section  of  the  city 
and  many  outlying  business  places  are  directly  or  indirectly,  wholly 
or  partially,  devoted  to  it,  as  is  a  large  area  of  the  whole  city 
territory.  Its  influence  is  far  reaching.  .  .  . 

The  study  of  children's  activities  in  connection  with  the  map 
survey  shows  that  there  is  an  enormous  amount  of  play  forced  into 
the  streets,  even  in  well-to-do  sections  of  the  city,  and  in  other  cases 
into  the  worst  of  environmental  conditions.  There  is  no  leadership 
or  supervision  of  this  play  and  there  are  no  public  playgrounds 
except  Burr  Jones  Field  and  two  park  playgrounds  and  inadequate, 
unsupervised  school  playgrounds,  where  there  is  no  attractive 
organization  or  play  to  draw  the  children  from  the  streets  to  more 
wholesome  activities  and  influences  on  the  playgrounds.  This  is 
physically  dangerous  and  a  menace  to  morals. 

The  study  of  commercial  recreation  shows  that  the  large  number 
of  children  are  involved  in  passive  amusements  indoors  during  the 
few  hours  free  for  outdoor,  health-giving  activities  or  when  they 
should  be  in  bed.  This  is  bad  from  the  standpoint  of  health,  the 
educational  efforts  of  the  school,  and  general  social  habits  or  ideals. 


PLAY  275 

The  study  of  environmental  influences  and  a  neglect  of  play 
show  that  some  of  this  street  and  unsupervised  play  results  dis- 
astrously, even  in  delinquency,  and  supports  the  claim  of  many 
observers  that  most  of  the  bad  habits  of  children  develop  in  play 
under  bad  influences. 

If  the  play  of  children  is  to  be  wholesome  and"  generally  devel- 
opmental rather  than  inactive  or  detrimental,  they  must  have 
wholesome  places  to  play  in,  equipment,  companionship,  and  at 
least  a  part  of  the  time  organized  play  and  leadership.  In  so  far 
as  the  home  cannot  supply  these  demands  most  of  the  time  —  and 
the  larger  number  of  homes  cannot  —  public  interest  in  the  welfare 
of  the  rising  generation  demands  that  the  play  be  centered  in  a 
community  playground  under  proper  supervision.  The  supreme 
need  of  children  of  Madison  is  playgrounds  under  trained  directors. 

The  recreational  needs  of  the  young  men  and  women  of  the 
city  requiring  public  attention  are  of  three  classes,  all  of  which 
require  places,  organization  and  leadership.  ( i )  They  need  athletic 
and  aquatic  activities,  athletic  organization  and  leadership.  These 
activities  are  wholesome  and  increase  efficiency  rather  than  decrease 
,iL  (2)  The  young  men  and  women  need  facilities  and  organization 
for  more  wholesome  social  activities,  such  as  dances.  They  need 
to  be  under  the  auspices  of  the  best  influences  rather  than  the 
questionable,  and  it  is  just  as  easy  to  have  the  best  as  the  ques- 
tionable. (3)  Young  men  and  women  need  opportunities  for,  and 
direction  in,  the  more  constructive  use  of  their  leisure  time.  They 
need  places  for  their  club  meetings  that  have  a  distinct  educational 
value  as  well  as  organization  and  general  leadership.  Individual 
use  of  museums  and  libraries  also  needs  organization.  The  facilities 
for  these  activities  are  meager  and  an  effective  organization  and 
leadership  are  totally  lacking. 

The  needs  of  adults  in  the  way  of  activities  and  facilities  are  so 
complicated  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  summarize  them,  l-'rom 
the  standpoint  of  public  effort,  the  main  points  are  provisions  for 
the  essentials  in  the  way  of  facilities,  organization,  promotion  and 
direction  that  cannot  be  supplied  by  individuals  or  small-group 
initiative  or  enterprise.  This  requires  a  public  body  that  can  study 
and  deal  with  these  needs.  There  is  still  a  great  body  of  adult 
individuals,  largely  of  the  untrainc-d,  laboring  classes,  without 


276     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

recreational  resources  and  unprovided  for  by  any  recreational 
agency  except,  perhaps,  the  saloon.  These  men  are  recreational 
outcasts;  they  seriously  need  a  place  where  they  can  find  clean 
opportunities  for  their  toilet  and  bath  and  wisely  organized  recre- 
ation. The  provision  of  organization  is  the  way  to  a  simple,  con- 
structive use  of  leisure  time  by  at  least  some  of  the  younger  of 
these  men ;  here  is  a  demand  for  a  new  type  of  men's  club,  or  a 
new  type  of  organization  of  men  who  have  no  recreational  resources. 
It  is  a  need  practically  untouched  by  social  agencies,  yet  one  that 
must  be  faced  frankly  if  these  men  are  to  gain  or  maintain  any 
semblance  of  self-respect  and  not  be  a  menace  to  democratic 
institutions.1 

PLAY  AS  PART  OF  THE  REGULAR  SCHOOL  PROGRAM 

Third,  the  work  of  the  schools  should  be  so  adjusted  that 
play  will  take  its  place  with  other  subjects  as  a  regular  and 
essential  part  of  the  curriculum.  This  implies  not  only  that 
play  will  be  given  time  in  the  program  but  also  that  the 
same  kind  of  expert  guidance  will  be  provided  for  play  as 
is  provided  for  the  other  activities  of  the  day.  The  great 
value  of  a  varied  program  is  evident  to  all  who  have  watched 
the  process  which  has  been  going  on  very  rapidly  in  recent 
years  of  opening  up  the  school  hours  so  as  to  include  many 
different  types  of  activity.  Play  needs  not  only  to  be  organized 
as  play  and  to  be  equipped  with  proper  facilities,  but  it  needs 
also  to  be  incorporated  into  the  regular  systematic  program 
of  the  school.  This  statement  may  be  reenforced  by  extracts 
from  the  conclusions  reached  by  the  Cleveland  survey. 

Some  reorganization  of  the  educational  corps  should  take  place 
with  a  view  to  efficient  administration  of  play  and  recreation  from 
a  broad  educational  and  social  standpoint.  This  would  lead  to  a 
far  greater  influence  of  the  school  upon  the  out-of-school  life  of 
the  community.  Through  lack  of  greater  influence  of  the  school 

1  Madison  Recreational  Survey,  pp.  97-99.  Prepared  by  a  Special 
Committee  of  the  Madison  Board  of  Commerce,  1915. 


PLAY  277 

during  out-of-school  hours,  there  is  a  great  social  leakage  for  which 
the  city  must  pay. 

The  school  is  the  natural  and  logical  agency  for  the  safeguarding 
of  the  great  fundamental  interests  of  children  and  youth.  Each 
year  discloses  more  and  more  clearly  that  the  school  is  the  one 
institution  we  have  yet  conceived  that  is  best  fitted  adequately  to 
conserve  these  interests  and  utilize  them  for  educational  and  social 
progress.  Opportunities  that  came  as  a  matter  of  course  to  children 
a  generation  ago  do  not  come  to  many  children  now  unless  they 
are  specifically  planned  for  by  some  agency  other  than  the  home. 
Met  wisely  by  the  community,  this  seeming  handicap  may,  in  the 
end,  result  in  a  great  and  new-found  social  strength. 

Play  is  more  than  recreation.  If  its  educational  significance  is 
real  in  the  kindergarten  period,  it  is  real  in  every  subsequent  stage 
of  growth  and  development.  Rightly  conceived,  play  is  a  most 
efficient  method  of  education  for  life,  for  work,  for  social  service. 
The  fact  that  we  do  not  yet  know  how  to  make  full  use  of  play  in 
education  need  not  and  should  not  prevent  the  utilization  of  play, 
to  the  full  extent  to  which  we  are  prepared,  for  the  tremendous 
social  service  it  can  render.1 

SLOW  SPREAD  OF  MODERN  ATTITUDE  TOWARD  PLAY 

The  suggestions  just  given,  if  acted  on,  would  completely 
reverse  the  attitude  of  the  Puritans,  with  whom  our  school 
program  originated.  To  them  play  was  a  distraction,  an 
evil  to  be  avoided  during  the  few  serious  hours  which  are 
to  be  devoted  to  self-improvement.  This  Puritan  attitude 
is  contrary  to  experience,  unsupported  by  science,  and  dis- 
advantageous for  the  school  and  society.  To  reverse  it  has 
required  long  centuries  and  will  require  a  more  general 
recognition  than  now  exists  in  the  minds  of  most  people 
of  the  possibility  and  importance  of  incorporating  play  as 
an  integral  and  systematic  part  of  the  educational  scheme. 

1  (icorgc  K.Johnson.  Kducntion  through  Recreation,  pp.  91-02.  Cleve- 
land Education  Survey.  Published  by  the  Survey  Committee  of  the 
Cleveland  Foundation,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  i<ji6. 


278     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

Let  the  class  undertake  a  survey  of  the  recreation  facilities  of 
the  town  or  a  survey  of  the  play  activities  in  which  its  members 
actually  engage  in  the  course  of  twenty-four  hours. 

A  whole  series  of  questions  arise  with  regard  to  athletics.  Is 
professional  baseball  a  form  of  recreation,  or  is  it  work  ?  Is  attend- 
ance on  the  theater  a  form  of  play  ?  The  early  students  of  the 
theory  of  play  spoke  of  literature  as  play.  What  can  be  said  in 
support  of  this  view  ?  How  late  in  life  do  animals  play  ?  How 
does  play  relate  itself  to  business  ? 

Play  when  considered  in  connection  with  school  work  is  un- 
doubtedly in  some  cases  a  distraction.  Is  it  for  this  reason  to 
be  criticized  ?  Under  what  conditions  are  play  and  study  at  odds 
with  each  other?  Are  there  methods  of  adjusting  the  relation 
without  giving  up  play  ? 

On  the  administrative  side  such  questions  as  these  arise :  Should 
all  the  teachers  take  part  in  the  teaching  and  supervision  of  games, 
or  should  a  special  teacher  be  employed  to  have  full  charge  of 
this  part  of  the  school  program  ?  Should  there  be  any  effort  on 
the  part  of  the  school  to  supervise  play  after  school  hours  ? 

GROOS,  K.    Play  of  Man.    D.  Appleton  and  Company. 

GROOS,  K.    Play  of  Animals.    D.  Appleton  and  Company. 

Third  Yearbook  of  the  National  Playground  Association.    Playground 

Association  of  America,  New  York  City.    This  contains  an  elaborate 

syllabus  on  play  and  also  a  full  bibliography. 


CHAPTER  XX 

HEALTH  SUPERVISION 

THE  RELATION  OF  HEALTH  TO  SCHOOL  WORK 

Ordinary  school  work  is  so  dependent  on  health  that  one 
wonders  how  teachers  of  an  earlier  generation  could  have 
failed  to  see  the  absolute  necessity  of  systematic  super- 
vision of  health.  When  we  think,  for  example,  of  the  con- 
sequences of  absence  from  class  exercises  because  of  illness; 
when  we  think  of  a  child's  sense  organs  unable  to  carry 
to  his  mind  the  full  message  brought  by  the  sounds  and 
sights  of  the  schoolroom  ;  when  we  think  of  the  nervous 
system  dull  and  unresponsive  because  of  malnutrition  or 
hunger, —  we  begin  to  realize  that  the  school  is  concerned 
in  a  very  vital  way  with  the  problem  of  supervising  health. 

TREATMENT  OF  PATHOLOGICAL  CASES 

In  order  to  exhibit  something  of  the  scope  of  the  pres- 
ent movement  toward  complete  supervision  of  health,  we 
may  begin  with  the  extreme  cases.  In  progressive  school 
systems  the  children  who  are  tubercular  or  aiucmic  or 
otherwise  seriously  affected  are  taken  out  of  the  regular 
classes  and  put  where  the  whole  educational  program  can 
be  subordinated  to  the  one  consideration  of  bringing  them 
back  to  physical  vigor.  Often  these  classes  are  conducted 
in  open-air  rooms,  and  often  the  equipment  of  the  rooms 
includes  cots  on  which  the  pupils  may  rest  as  a  part  of  the 
regular  school  exercise. 

279 


280     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

SCHOOL  LUNCHEONS 

A  second  line  of  treatment  deals  with  nutrition.  The 
importance  of  one  aspect  of  this  matter  is  brought  out  in 
the  following  paragraphs : 

Long  ago  Horace  Greeley,  in  an  address  before  a  convention  of 
teachers,  called  attention  to  one  of  the  most  perplexing  social  and 
economic  problems  of  the  age  —  a  problem  which  still  confronts 
school  authorities  of  to-day. 

"  In  vain,"  he  said,  "  shall  we  provide  capable  teachers,  and 
comfortable  school  rooms,  apparatus,  libraries,  etc.,  for  those  chil- 
dren who  sit  distorted  by  the  gnawings  of  hunger,  ...  or  suffering 
from  the  effects  of  innutritious  or  unwholesome  food." 

Medical  inspection  is  forcing  upon  public  attention  this  appalling 
fact  —  that  a  large  percentage  of  children  in  school  are  in  no  phys- 
ical condition,  because  of  malnutrition,  to  profit  by  the  present 
generous  outlay  of  public  money  for  school  purposes.  Practical 
educators,  everywhere,  are  agreed  that  even  the  most  patient, 
thoughtful  effort  to  train  under-nourished  children  is  attended  with 
but  partial  success.  Out  of  their  experience  comes  this  plea  — 
give  the  under-nourished  child  body  food  first,  before  offering  him 
the  wisdom  of  ages.1 

In  view  of  the  condition  in  which  many  pupils  come  to 
school,  it  has  been  found  important  for  school  authorities 
or  philanthropic  organizations  to  provide  luncheons.  These 
have  been  most  successful  where  a  small  price  is  charged 
for  the  food. 

CONTROL  OF  HOME  FEEDING 

The  influence  of  this  experiment  in  feeding  is  important 
not  merely  because  of  the  positive  nourishment  given  to  the 
pupils  but  also  because  of  the  example  which  it  sets  in 
proper  standards  of  eating  at  home.  Many  families  do  not 

1  Sarah  Webb  Maury  and  Lena  L.  Tachau,  A  Penny  Lunch,  p.  8.    1915- 


HEALTH  SUPERVISION  281 

know  how  to  feed  children.  The  son  of  a  truck  driver  who 
breakfasts  with  his  father  on  coffee,  sausage,  and  griddle- 
cakes  will  spend  the  morning  trying  to  digest  the  food 
which  is  appropriate  to  his  father's  occupation  but  not  to 
the  sedentary  life  of  the  scholar. 

PUBLIC  ATTENTION  TO  NUTRITION  OF  CHILDREN 

The  importance  of  the  whole  problem  of  nutrition  can  be 
made  clear  by  quoting  from  the  work  of  a  specialist.  The 
paragraphs  selected  are  the  more  impressive  because  they 
show  that  other  nations  as  well  as  ourselves  are  confronted 
by  these  problems. 

Recently  there  has  been  an  increasing  tendency  to  make  the 
report  on  nutrition  of  different  children  the  basis  of  the  entire 
medical-inspection  report.  This  is  because  it  has  been  demon- 
strated again  and  again  that  the  occurrence  of  disease  and  physical 
defects  is  largely  conditioned  by  nutritional  disturbances. 

In  Paris  medical  inspectors  have  charge  of  the  school  canteens 
and  are  required  to  report  on  the  nutrition  of  each  child.  They 
are  further  expected  to  follow  up  any  child  with  impaired  nutrition 
and  to  administer  tonics  and  special  care. 

In  England,  since  1907,  compulsory  medical  inspection  has 
included  inspection  of  nutrition.  Beginning  with  1909,  the  chief 
medical  officer  of  the  National  Board  of  Education  has  reported 
yearly  on  the  nutrition  of  the  children  throughout  the  country  and 
on  the  work  of  the  school  feeding  centers.  In  Scotland  the  medi- 
cal inspectors  are  required  to  see  that  children  suffering  from  mal- 
nutrition are  fed  properly  either  by  the  school  or  by  the  parents. 
As  a  result  of  this  systematic  work  British  school  doctors  are 
developing  methods  of  technique  and  standards  for  judging  mal- 
nutrition, which,  on  account  of  its  complex  and  interwoven  causes, 
is  very  difficult  to  estimate  accurately.  .  .  . 

In  American  cities  no  record  of  the  nutrition  of  the  entire  school 
population  has  been  made.  In  1907  in  New  York  the  Committee 
on  Physical  Welfare  of  School-Children  reported  13  per  cent  of 


282     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

990  children,  selected  as  typical  of  the  whole  city,  to  be  suffering 
from  malnutrition.  A  similar  investigation  of  10,090  children  in 
Chicago  in  1908  revealed  12  per  cent  badly  nourished  in  all  grades, 
the  proportion  decreasing  from  15  per  cent  in  the  kindergarten  to 
6  per  cent  in  the  fifth  grade  and  above.  Wherever  an  attempt  has 
been  made  to  include  all  classes  of  children  in  the  examinations, 
the  percentages  found  suffering  from  acute  malnutrition  run  from 
10  to  15.  Where  only  schools  in  the  poorer  districts  are  included, 
the  percentages  are  far  higher,  and  vary  between  20  and  40.  How- 
ever, it  must  be  remembered  that  children  from  the  poorer  districts 
far  outnumber  those  in  other  schools,  so  that  in  point  of  figures 
the  actual  proportion  of  children  suffering  from  malnutrition  is 
probably  nearer  the  second  estimate.  Doctor  Thomas  F.  Wood,  of 
Columbia,  gives  25  per  cent  as  the  estimate  for  the  school  popula- 
tion of  the  whole  country. 

"  The  longer  a  medical  officer  remains  at  school  inspection," 
remarks  Doctor  Hope,  of  Liverpool,  in  a  report  for  1912,  "  th^ 
more  severe  becomes  his  standard  of  nutrition,  and  the  less  read- 
ily does  he  pass  a  child  as  being  well  nourished."  l 

One  reason  that  health  conditions  in  rural  schools  have  been  so 
long  neglected  is  because  of  the  common  idea  that  country  children 
are  naturally  vigorous  and  healthy.  "  This  ought  to  be  so  but  un- 
fortunately is  not,"  says  Doctor  Ernest  Hoag,  in  a  recent  govern- 
ment report.  He  finds  that,  u  in  general,  food  is  not  as  well 
prepared  in  the  country  as  it  is  in  the  city  ;  the  available  variety  is 
smaller."  Bad  methods  of  ventilation  and  heating  at  home  and  at 
school,  exposure  to  wet  in  the  long  walks  to  school,  and  overdress- 
ing in  the  house  —  all  are  inroads  on  the  already  badly  nourished 
bodies.  Investigations  show  that  malnutrition  and  its  accompany- 
ing diseases  are  quite  as  frequent  among  country  as  among  city 
children.2 

1  Louise   Stevens   Bryant,   "  School   Feeding."     Educational   Hygiene 
(edited   by  Louis   \V.    Rapeer),    chap,    xvi,    pp.    286-287,    289.     Charles 
Scribner's  Sons,  1915. 

2  Ibid.  p.  285. 


HEALTH  SUPERVISION  283 

CONTROL  OF  CONTAGION 

Turning  from  nutrition  to  another  aspect  of  the  physical 
condition  in  schools,  it  is  easy  to  show  that  the  school  must 
control  contagion.  The  bringing  together  of  hundreds  of 
children  increases  so  greatly  the  probability  of  spread  of 
disease  that  the  health  authorities  always  welcome  the  arrival 
of  the  summer  vacation  as  a  relief  from  the  most  strenuous 
of  their  duties. 

THE  SCHOOL   HEALTH  DEPARTMENT 

The  kinds  of  demands  described  have  led  to  the  develop- 
ment of  health  departments  in  many  school  systems.  The 
various  functions  served  by  a  school  health  department  have 
been  described  by  Dr.  E.  A.  Peterson,  a  health  officer  in  one 
of  the  largest  cities  of  the  country,  in  a  report  from  which 
the  following  paragraphs  are  extracted  : 

The  problem  of  checking  contagion  is  an  acute  problem  in  the 
schools.  The  facts  show  that  in  the  early  years  of  a  child's  school 
life  he  has  more  of  the  diseases  of  childhood  than  at  any  other 
period,  especially  more  than  he  had  when  he  was  at  home  during 
the  period  immediately  preceding  school.  Furthermore,  as  soon  as 
school  breaks  up  for  the  long  vacation,  contagion  subsides.  The 
bringing  together  of  large  groups  of  children  in  schools  is  one 
of  the  most  prolific  methods  of  spreading  contagion.  .  .  . 

But  the  school  health  service  soon  developed  far  beyond  this 
first  stage  of  merely  policing  the  sch<x>ls.  Indeed,  one  sees  the 
real  justification  of  a  separate  school  health  department  if  he  fol- 
lows this  health  department  into  what  may  be  called  its  second, 
third,  and  final  stage  of  evolution.  .  .  . 

Examinations  by  physicians  within  the  last  decade  indicate  that 
as  many  as  five  per  cent  of  school  children  suffer  from  defective 
vision  to  such  an  extent  that  they  cannot  see  lessons  on  the  board 
unless  they  have  the  services  of  expert  oculists,  that  one  in  every 
hundred  cannot  hear  what  the  teacher  is  saying,  that  ten  in  every 


284     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

hundred  are  so  "stopped  up"  by  adenoids  that  attention  to  school 
work  is  nearly  impossible  until  the  science  of  medicine  gives  them 
relief. 

This  drew  the  attention  of  the  educational  world  to  the  necessity 
of  ridding  children  of  these  defects  in  order  that  they  may  take 
advantage  of  the  educational  opportunity  offered  in  the  schools.  .  .  . 

One  characteristic  development  shown  at  this  second  stage  of 
school  health  organization  is  the  employment  of  the  school  nurse. 
The  school  nurse  marks  the  growth  of  the  health  era  away  from 
its  first  or  merely  policing  stage.  The  school  nurse  is  at  once  a 
medical  officer  and  a  teacher.  She  teaches  the  parents  in  the  home 
and  she  teaches  the  children.  She  becomes  a  most  important  link 
between  the  home  and  the  school.  Her  methods  are  those  of 
persuasion,  not  those  of  the  emergency  police  officer.  .  .  . 

Once  the  idea  of  making  health  a  matter  of  intelligent  interest 
took  root,  it  was  sure  to  grow.  Correction  of  physical  defects  is 
itself  a  tardy  method  of  dealing  with  the  situation.  Why  not  pre- 
vent the  defects  ?  This  kind  of  thinking  turned  attention  to  the 
environment  of  the  child  and  the  necessity  of  making  it  as  conducive 
to  health  as  possible.  .  .  . 

Finally,  it  is  by  no  means  satisfactory  that  we  should  stop  with 
the  negative  work  of  preventing  disease  and  unfavorable  condi- 
tions. We  must  be  positive  in  our  treatment  of  health.  We  want 
more  health,  more  vigor,  more  efficiency.  The  fourth  stage  of 
medical  inspection  may  properly  be  called  the  health  development 
stage  and  has  to  do  not  only  with  the  teaching  of  hygiene  but 
with  the  development  of  higher  ideals  of  wellness,  with  the  rais- 
ing of  the  standard  of  normality,  with  taking  a  person  who  is  well 
and  making  him  "  wellest."  .  .  . 

The  department  must  constantly  assume  new  functions  without 
dropping  any  of  the  old.  If  it  is  to  be  an  efficient  department,  it 
must  carry  on  all  of  the  activities  suggested  in  the  summary  which 
can  be  made  up  from  the  foregoing  study. 

First  stage  —  Inspection 

1.  Inspection  of  children  for  contagious  diseases 
Second  stage  —  Discovering  and  correcting  defects 

2.  Physical  examination  of  all  children 

3.  Follow-up  work  in  the  home  to  get  corrections 


HEALTH  SUPERVISION  285 

4.  Maintenance  of  school  clinics 
Third  stage  —  Prevention 

(Hygiene  of  building 
Hygiene  of  curriculum 
TT       •  r  • 

Hygiene  of  instruction 
Special  schools  for  special  cases 

6.  Examination  and  inspection  of  principals,  teachers,  janitors 

and  other  employees 
Fourth  stage  —  Health  development 

7.  Health  teaching  at  school  and  at  home 

8.  Establishing  health  habits  by  means  of 

a.  Toothbrush  drills 

b.  Handkerchief  drills 

c.  Bathing,  etc. 

d.  Health  clubs1 

DIFFICULTIES  OF  INTRODUCING  HEALTH  INSTRUCTION 

Health  work  in  the  schools,  as  it  has  risen  to  the  level 
of  a  subject  of  instruction,  has  encountered  the  kind  of 
obstacles  met  by  every  new  school  subject.  Teachers  are 
ignorant  on  medical  matters,  and  the  doctors  who  come  into 
the  schools  are  ignorant  of  methods  of  teaching.  The  result 
is  that  the  instruction  given  by  teachers  is  sometimes  formal 
and  unscientific,  while  the  work  of  the  doctors  does  not 
prove  as  effective  as  it  might  because  it  docs  not  reach 
the  pupils.  A  partial  corrective  for  this  difficulty  can  be 
supplied  through  a  better  system  of  training  teachers. 

The  following  extracts  from  a  paper  by  Dr.  Allison  show 
how  one  state  is  attempting  to  cope  with  this  problem  : 

In  this  tremendous  but  not  superhuman  task  of  teaching  health, 
there  seems  to  me  no  more  effective  method  than  to  commit  it  to 
those  who  arc  and  arc  to  be  the  teachers.  Progress  in  these  mat- 
ters cannot  be  made  without  an  intelligent  understanding  on  the 

1  Dr.  K.  A.  I'ctcrson,  "Medical  Inspection."  Survey  of  the  St.  Ixniis 
Public  Schools,  Vol.  VII,  Part  II.  pp.  41-45.  Published  by  the  Hoard  of 
Education,  St.  Louis.  Missouri. 


286     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

part  of  the  teacher.  It  is  therefore  important  to  teach  the  teacher. 
It  is  said  that  the  normal  school  is  historically  the  only  institution 
in  the  country  which  has  aimed  to  deal  with  the  teaching  problem. 
The  Board  of  Regents  of  the  normal  schools  of  Wisconsin  felt 
the  need  of  making  the  normal  schools  of  the  state  instruments 
of  public  health  and  in  1912  appointed  a  physician  for  this  work. 
The  work  as  organized  consists  of:  (i)  exclusion  of  the  physi- 
cally unfit  among  the  normal-school  students ;  (2)  detection  of 
remedial  physical  defects  with  suggestions  in  regard  to  same ; 
(3)  instruction  in  preventive  medicine. 

1.  The  term  "physically  unfit"  is  very  elastic,  but  we  should 
have  some  physical  standard.    The  public  has  not  been  in  a  posi- 
tion to  protect  itself  against  those  physically  unfit  in  the  profession, 
but  it  is  beginning  to  make  certain  demands.    For  example,  what 
community  will  now  tolerate  a  teacher  who  is  known  to  be  tuber- 
culous ?    It  is  well  to  enlighten  these  physically  unfit,  and  stop  the 
source  of  the  physically  undesirable,  as  we  would  the  intellectually 
undesirable. 

My  experience  with  several  thousand  young  men  and  'women 
during  the  last  three  years  has  shown  me  that  the  health  habits  of 
teachers  need  improving.  .  .  . 

2.  In  the  normal  schools  of  Wisconsin  a  health-record  card  for 
each  student  is  on  file  in  the  department  of  physical  training.   The 
side  filled  out  by  the  physical-training  teacher  consists  of  a  record 
of  height,  weight,  and  lung  capacity,  the  neck,  chest,  and  hip 
measurements,  and  a  detailed  record  of  posture.    The  physician's 
report  includes  a  record  of  the  past  medical  history,   personal 
history,  sex  history,  family  history,  and  the  present  condition  of 
nutrition,  skin,  eyes,  ears,  nose,  throat,  teeth,  glands,  lungs,  heart, 
and  elimination.    Each  student  is  advised  in  accordance  with  the 
conditions  which  are  found.  .  .  . 

3.  Instruction  in   preventive   medicine   consists   of  individual 
advice  and  classroom  instruction  as  follows : 

(a)  Personal  hygiene.  This  supplements  what  they  have  studied 
from  the  text  and  what  they  have  received  from  the  instructors 
of  hygiene  and  physical  training. 

(&}  A  couple  of  lectures  are  given  on  the  physical  examination 
of  school  children.  Teachers  should  be  taught  the  essential  facts 


HEALTH  SUPERVISION  287 

about  defective  vision,  defective  hearing,  adenoids,  catarrh,  dis- 
eased tonsils,  nervousness,  and  mental  defects.  .  .  . 

(c)  Lectures  are  given  on  the  cause,  avenue  of  infection,  mode 
of  transmission,  period  of  incubation,  symptoms,  complications, 
results,  and  prevention  of  the  following  communicable  and  pre- 
ventable diseases :  measles,  scarlet  fever,  chicken-pox,  smallpox, 
mumps,  whooping  cough,  grippe,  pneumonia,  tuberculosis,  diph- 
theria, meningitis,  and  infantile  paralysis.1 

HEALTH  AS  A  SUBJECT  OF  INSTRUCTION  AND  AS  A 
MODE  OF  LIFE 

A  movement  such  as  that  described  in  the  paragraphs 
just  quoted  shows  perhaps  better  than  any  general  descrip- 
tion the  strength  of  the  demand  that  the  schools  teach  and 
train  for  health.  Health  must  be  acquired  as  well  as  thought 
of  in  abstract  terms.  The.  school  methods  of  dealing  with  it 
require  a  rational  combination  of  the  work  of  the  physical- 
training  department  with  that  of  the  school  physician  and 
the  teacher.  The  movement  is  therefore  one  of  those  broad 
movements  in  education  which  require  the  introduction  of 
new  materials  of  instruction  but  also  call  for  a  general  and 
constructive  administrative  policy  which  shall  support  in- 
struction by  opening  the  way  for  an  enlargement  of  school 
work  of  a  practical  type. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

What  devices  other  than  school  luncheons  can  the  school 
adopt  in  the  effort  to  make  people  intelligent  about  the  feeding  of 
school  children  ?  What  are  the  symptoms  exhibited  by  children 
who  are  badly  fed  at  home  ?  What  are  the-  different  tyjxjs  of  diffi- 
culty which  arise  in  the  matter  of  nutrition  ? 

1  Elizabeth  Wilson  Allison,  "  The  Teacher's  Field  in  Public  Health 
Work."  ProttfiiiMfs  </  tht  .\<///o«<//  /0///«;/7<>w  .-/n.'. /<;//<>»/.  pp.  frft-CifH. 
Published  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Association,  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan, 
1915. 


288     THE  SCIENTIFIC   STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

Are  the  public-health  controls  in  the  city  adequate  to  take  care 
of  contagion  in  the  school  ?  Should  the  school  be  dismissed  in 
time  of  contagion  ?  It  is  noted  that  pupils  have  a  great  many  con- 
tagious diseases  when  they  first  come  to  school.  This  is  sometimes 
explained  by  saying  that  the  age  from  6  to  8  years  is  more 
susceptible  to  disease.  Is  any  other  explanation  to  be  offered? 
At  what  time  in  the  year  is  contagion  most  common  ? 

Would  children's  health  be  endangered  by  continuing  school 
during  the  summer  ?  Are  physical  examinations  of  pupils  justified  in 
public  schools  ?  What  objections  are  raised  to  such  examinations  ? 
Who  should  make  them  ?  It  is  sometimes  argued  that  the  expense 
of  medical  inspection  and  physical  examinations  is  too  great.  Is 
there  any  answer  ? 

Here,  as  in  the  case  of  play,  the  administrative  question  arises, 
Should  all  teachers  have  a  part  in  the  health  supervision,  or  should 
the  task  be  assigned  to  specialists  ?  Argue  the  case. 

GULICK,  L.  H.,  and  AYRES,  L.  P.  Medical  Inspection  of  Schools.  Char- 
ities Publication  Committee,  New  York  City.  This  is  the  book 
which  contributed  very  powerfully  to  the  beginnings  of  the  move- 
ment for  school  departments  of  health. 

WOOD,  T.  D.  National  Welfare  and  Rural  Schools.  Proceedings  of 
the  National  Education  Association,  Vol.  LIV,  1916.  Report  of 
investigations  of  country  and  city  children. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

SCIENTIFIC   SUPERVISION 
EVOLUTION  OF  THE  DEMAND  FOR  SUPERVISION 

In  the  days  when  the  school  system  was  simple  in  its 
equipment  and  in  its  course  of  study  no  distinction  was 
drawn  between  the  problems  of  teaching  and  the  problems 
of  organizing  the  school.  The  teacher  did  everything  that 
was  done  in  the  school.  The  teacher  made  the  program, 
promoted  the  pupils,  consulted  with  the  town  officials  and 
parents,  conducted  the  classes,  and  in  not  a  few  cases 
swept  the  floor  and  built  the  fire.  There  was,  to  use  a 
phrase  of  the  business  world,  no  overhead  management. 

The  course  of  study  has  grown  complex.  The  work  of 
the  classroom  is  absorbing,  and  yet  its  success  depends  on 
equipment  and  organization  that  need  to  be  studied  and 
intelligently  arranged.  The  work  of  one  school  must  be 
correlated  with  the  work  of  the  schools  in  neighboring  com- 
munities. The  public  must  have  authoritative  information 
about  the  fiscal  needs  of  the  school  and  about  the  outcome 
of  the  public  investments  in  education.  The  demand  has 
arisen  for  a  new  type  of  school  officer  —  the  supervisor. 
This  officer  is  not  a  teacher  but  a  manager.  His  duty  is 
one  of  organization  and  central  adjustment. 

THE  PRINCIPAL 

The  new  demand  here  referred  to  can  be  described  by 
means  of  an  example  which  exhibits  one  of  the  greatest 
weaknesses  of  our  present  school  system.  Schools  of  all 

2.80 


290     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

grades  which  have  grown  large  enough  to  employ  three 
or  more  teachers  commonly  have  an  officer  who  is  known 
as  the  principal. 

In  the  small  school  the  principal  spends  most  of  his  or 
her  time  in  teaching.  In  larger  schools  the  principal  does 
no  classroom  work.  In  both  cases  the  principal  is  univer- 
sally selected  for  a  special  position  in  the  school  because 
of  his  or  her  success  in  teaching.  The  work  of  the  princi- 
pal is  thought  of  as  that  of  a  head  teacher.  The  fact  is, 
however,  entirely  at  variance  with  this  idea ;  the  work  of 
the  principal  is  not  that  of  teaching.  Principals  ought  to  be 
managers  and  central  organizers.  They  ought  to  know  the 
system  as  a  whole  and  ought  to  devote  time  and  thought 
to  problems  of  a  managerial  type.  The  weakness  of  our 
present  school  system  is  that  most  principals  are  in  no 
sense  equipped  for  this  central  managing  task.  They  do 
not  know  how  to  use  profitably  the  release  from  class- 
room work  which  attaches  to  their  office  and  title.  The 
result  is  that  they  drift,  often  with  the  full  cognizance  of 
the  board  of  education,  into  the  habit  of  spending  time  on 
trifling  clerical  tasks  which  are  wholly  unworthy  of  the 
special  position  which  they  are  supposed  to  occupy  in  the 
system.  It  is  a  deficiency  of  our  educational  system  that 
while  there  are  institutions  for  the  training  of  teachers  there 
are  only  a  few  general  courses  for  administrative  officers. 

There  certainly  can  be  no  objection  to  experience  as  a 
teacher  in  the  classroom  as  preliminary  training  for  the 
person  who  is  to  occupy  a  school  principalship.  But  the 
moment  the  experienced  teacher  leaves  the  ranks  and  takes 
up  the  office  of  principal,  a  wholly  new  set  of  central  prob- 
lems should  come  within  his  view.  He  should  recognize 
the  fact  that  from  this  time  on  his  task  is  one  of  a  broader 
type,  and  the  successful  execution  of  that  task  will  require 
a  kind  of  study  which  is  demanded  at  most  in  very  minor 
degree  of  the  teacher. 


SCIENTIFIC  SUPERVISION  291 

OTHER  SUPERVISORY  OFFICERS 

What  has  been  said  of  the  principal  is  true  also  of 
assistant  superintendents  and  of  the  superintendent  of  the 
school  system.  It  is  true  also  of  departmental  supervisors 
who  have  general  oversight  of  certain  subdivisions  of  the 
work.  All  these  officers  ought  to  become  expert  in  a  type 
of  study  and  a  type  of  management  which  are  not  expected 
of  the  individual  teacher. 

LACK  OF  PUBLIC  APPRECIATION  OF  CENTRAL  PROBLEMS 

In  general,  it  is  evident  from  a  study  of  American  school 
systems  that  emphasis  has  not  been  laid  on  central  organ- 
ization. Cities  have  employed  a  superintendent  when  they 
had  a  population  of  five  thousand  inhabitants  and  have  ex- 
pected a  single  officer  to  continue  to  perform  all  the  duties 
of  that  office  when  the  population  has  increased  to  one  hun- 
dred thousand.  A  principal  is  put  in  charge  of  a  high  school 
of  two  hundred  students  and  continues  to  have  full  respon- 
sibility for  the  school  when  it  increases  to  eight  hundred 
students.  Boards  of  education  have  refused  to  give  super- 
visory officers  clerical  assistance,  and  have  thus  required  a 
principal  or  superintendent  receiving  the  highest  salary  of 
any  person  in  the  system  to  do  work  which  a  clerk  could  do 
more  economically  and  quite  as  efficiently,  thus  interfering 
with  the  performance  of  important  central  duties  for  which 
no  time  is  left. 

MANAGERIAL  TRAINING  IN  RELATION  TO  DEMOCRACY 

The  training  of  a  large  number  of  persons  who  will  be 
competent  to  take  up  managerial  functions  is  especially 
important  in  the  school  system  of  a  democracy  because  the 
problems  of  each  community  are  in  some  measure  local 
problems  to  l>c  solved  at  the  point  where  they  arise.  In  a 


292     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

school  system  which  treats  every  child  and  every  commu- 
nity exactly  alike  administration  is  simplified  through  uni- 
formity. In  a  school  system  which  is  as  complex  as  ours 
there  must  be  an  intelligent  adaptation  of  organization  to 
particular  ends;  and  every  device  which  will  promote  such 
adaptation  is  economical. 

THE  PURPOSE  OF  THE  PRESENT  DISCUSSION 

The  general  discussion  of  supervision  will  be  clearer  if 
we  take  up  for  brief  description  some  of  the  problems  which 
should  be  dealt  with  by  central  officers  and  some  of  the 
methods  of  solving  these  problems.  It  will  not  be  the  pur- 
pose of  this  discussion  to  attempt  anything  like  a  complete 
enumeration  of  such  problems  or  methods,  but  merely  to 
suggest  their  type. 

STUDIES  OF  THE  COMMUNITY 

First,  there  must  be  a  study  of  the  community.  To  some 
extent  the  individual  teacher  must  take  a  share  in  this  study. 
The  character  of  each  pupil  and  the  facts  about  his  home 
surroundings  are  important  to  the  teacher  in  carrying  on 
class  work.  But  there  must  be  some  agency  which  can 
devote  time  and  attention  to  a  systematic  collection  of  facts. 
The  teacher  has  a  right  to  expect  that  the  school  system 
as  a  system  will  make  information  readily  available  which  it 
would  be  difficult  for  an  individual  to  collect.  The  central 
officers  should  make  such  a  study. 

The  making  of  a  school  census  is  a  duty  of  the  central 
officers  who  have  in  hand  the  enforcement  of  the  com- 
pulsory-attendance laws.  When  these  officers  recognize 
their  task  as  a  large  educational  task,  they  will  make  the 
census  not  merely  a  formal  basis  for  compelling  attend- 
ance but  a  means  of  collecting  a  body  of  facts  on  which 
educational  adaptations  can  be  based. 


SCIENTIFIC  SUPERVISION  293 

It  has  been  pointed  out  in  earlier  chapters  that  the  com- 
munity should  be  studied  with  a  view  to  discovering  the 
needs  of  pupils.  Up  to  this  time  such  studies  have  been 
made  as  special  undertakings  in  a  few  isolated  communi- 
ties. For  example,  the  industries  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  of 
Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  and  of  the  state  of  Indiana  have 
been  studied  by  special  commissions  and  reported  at  three 
annual  meetings  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Promotion 
of  Industrial  Education.  What  is  needed  is  a  constant  study 
of  these  problems  in  every  community.  Again,  teachers 
cannot  meet  the  demand.  This  problem  is  a  central  prob- 
lem, and  the  central  management  must  be  equipped  to  get 
information  which  the  teachers  need  but  cannot  collect. 

SELECTION  AND  MANAGEMENT  OF  TEACHERS 

A  second  group  of  central  problems  have  to  do  with  the 
selection  of  teachers  and  their  continued  training  while  in 
service.  It  used  to  be  very  generally  assumed,  and  in  some 
quarters  it  seems  to  be  assumed  to-day,  that  in  the  teaching 
profession  there  is  no  need  of  training  beyond  the  initial 
normal  course  or  the  initial  college  course  that  brought  the 
candidate  through  the  first  requirements.  A  kind  of  per- 
sistence in  professional  efficiency  on  the  part  of  teachers  is 
assumed. 

The  day  of  such  easy-going  neglect  of  professional  re- 
quirements is  over.  Score  cards  of  teachers'  qualifications 
are  being  worked  out.  The  relative  importance  of  such 
personal  qualifications  as  a  pleasant  voice  and  manner  as 
compared  with  such  products  of  training  as  knowledge  of 
the  correct  forms  of  English  expression  and  knowledge  of 
geography  or  I^itin  must  be  determined  with  direct  refer- 
ence to  the  particular  duties  which  are  required  of  the 
teacher.  The  development  of  methods  of  correcting  defi- 
ciencies in  the  equipment  of  a  teaching  corps,  the  proj>er 


294     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

distribution  of  the  time  and  energy  of  a  group  of  teachers, 
and  the  proper  method  of  keeping  the  records  of  the  work 
of  teachers  are  all  central  problems.  As  the  teacher  stands 
in  a  central  relation  to  his  or  her  class,  so  the  supervisor 
stands  in  a  central  relation  to  a  corps  of  teachers. 

Of  all  the  problems  touching  teachers,  that  of  their 
training  in  service  is  perhaps  the  most  important.  There 
is  a  great  deal  of  very  blind  and  ineffective  effort  expended 
each  year  in  futile  attempts  to  meet  this  problem.  A  great 
deal  of  required  reading  is  done  by  teachers,  and  a  great 
many  meetings  are  attended  which  could  be  turned  to  better 
account  if  there  were  well-organized  systems  of  training  in 
service  and  of  parallel  promotional  requirements. 

STANDARDIZATION  BY  MEASUREMENT  OF  RESULTS 

A  third  group  of  problems  are  those  which  have  been 
referred  to  in  the  chapter  on  standardization.  The  results 
of  classroom  work  must  be  evaluated  and  comparisons 
must  be  made  on  a  large  scale  to  guide  the  future  work 
of  the  pupils.  In  some  measure  this  is  a  problem  for 
teachers.  But  so  far  as  the  individual  class  teacher  is 
concerned,  there  will  have  to  be  dependence  on  central 
agencies  for  the  collection  of  material  which  can  be  used 
in  comparisons. 

At  the  present  time  a  large  share  of  the  standardizing 
material  is  being  collected  by  private  agencies.  Men  and 
women  who  are  interested  in  the  promotion  of  educational 
science  are  making  individual  studies  and  are  bringing 
together  bodies  of  comparative  material.  This  is  entirely 
legitimate  so  long  as  the  movement  of  standardization  and 
quantitative  treatment  of  results  is  in  what  may  be  described 
as  an  experimental  stage.  As  soon  as  the  utility  of  meas- 
urements has  been  proved,  it  becomes  a  public  obligation  to 
provide  agencies  for  this  work. 


SCIENTIFIC  SUPERVISION  295 

The  growth  of  the  movement  toward  the  addition  in  all 
large  school  systems  of  one  or  more  officers  whose  duty  it 
shall  be  to  measure  results  has  been  commented  on  in 
earlier  connections.  There  is  a  national  organization  of 
school-efficiency  officers  with  a  membership  including  rep- 
resentatives of  some  twenty  of  the  leading  systems  of  the 
country.  This  shows  in  a  concrete  way  that  the  demand  for 
central  officers  of  standardization  is  beginning  to  be  met. 

AN  EXAMPLE  OF  PUBLIC  RECOGNITION  OF  THE  NEED 
OF  EFFICIENCY  MEASUREMENTS 

A  single  example  of  a  personal  type  may  serve  further  to 
impress  on  the  reader  the  character  of  this  movement. 
Mr.  S.  A.  Courtis,  who  is  widely  known  as  the  author  of  a 
system  of  arithmetic  tests,  began  his  work  in  testing  as  a 
teacher  in  a  private  school  for  girls,  the  Liggett  School  of 
Detroit.  He  devised  tests  to  find  out  how  well  his  pupils 
were  doing  their  work.  He  found  at  once  that  he  needed 
comparative  material  because  he  saw  that  the  success  of  his 
classes  was  in  a  measure  a  comparative  matter.  He  pub- 
lished his  first  findings,  and  secured  the  cooperation  of 
other  interested  teachers  and  school  officers.  Soon  he 
became  a  center  for  arithmetic  tests.  He  was  compelled  to 
give  up  more  and  more  of  his  time  and  energy  to  a  task 
which  was  broader  in  its  scope  than  the  task  of  teaching 
his  classes.  The  school  was  intelligent  enough  to  recognize 
this  general  service  to  all  schools  and  gave  him  time  and 
assistance  in  organizing  his  tests.  The  individual  work  of 
a  scientific  student  thus  began  to  develop.  He  was  called 
to  all  parts  of  the  country  to  discuss  his  methods  and  results, 
and  centers  of  interest  were  established  where  his  tests 
were  used. 

Ultimately  Mr.  Courtis  was  called  to  assist  in  the  survey 
of  New  York  City  and  in  the  surveys  of  other  systems, 


296     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

notably  Gary,  Indiana.  He  was  also  asked  to  organize  for  the 
city  of  Detroit  a  department  of  investigation  as  a  permanent 
division  of  the  administration  of  the  city  schools. 


SCIENTIFIC  STUDIES  AND  CENTRAL  SUPERVISION 

Example  after  example  could  be  given  of  the  organization 
of  public  supervision  on  the  basis  of  private  scientific  inves- 
tigation. These  examples  are  important  not  only  as  exhibi- 
tions of  the  demand  for  more  central  supervision  but  also 
as  demonstrations  of  the  demand  that  all  the  larger  prob- 
lems of  the  school  system  be  approached  in  the  scientific 
spirit.  The  school  system  of  this  country,  like  all  public  in- 
stitutions, has  passed  through  the  period  of  first  organization. 
This  was  a  period  of  urgent  practical  demands.  Work  had 
to  be  done  by  any  means  that  came  to  hand.  The  situation 
was  like  all  pioneer  situations.  In  many  cases  teachers  who 
were  meagerly  trained  had  to  administer  unorganized  courses 
of  study,  and  the  public  had  to  be  satisfied  with  results 
which  were,  to  say  the  least,  uncertain.  The  pioneering  period 
is  not  altogether  passed  yet,  but  there  is  wealth  enough  in 
most  communities  to  support  a  more  deliberate  type  of  organi- 
zation. There  is  a  perfection  of  the  instruments  of  education, 
an  organization  of  the  agencies  of  education,  and  a  standardi- 
zation of  results  which  were  impossible  in  earlier  days. 

The  business  of  the  central  officers  in  a  school  system 
can  be  defined  in  terms  of  this  discussion  as  the  collection 
and  distribution  of  scientific  information  and  the  administra- 
tion of  the  system  in  keeping  with  the  scientific  information 
thus  collected.  Such  a  formula  can  be  carried  over  to  prob- 
lems other  than  those  enumerated  thus  far  in  this  chapter. 
The  problems  of  promotion  and  of  the  course  of  study, 
even  the  problems  of  class  management  and  instruction, 
have  large  supervisory  aspects  with  which  the  central  school 
officers  must  deal. 


SCIENTIFIC  SUPERVISION  297 

SCIENTIFIC  SUPERVISION 

Such  a  statement  gives  a  view  of  the  principalship  or 
superintendency  of  schools  which  is  wholly  different  from 
that  which  is  expressed  by  applying  to  these  offices  the 
title  "  head  teacher."  In  England  the  chief  officer  in  a 
school  building  is  the  head  teacher  or  the  head  master. 
These  names  imply  merely  an  extension  of  the  teaching 
function  and  fail  to  recognize  the  necessity  of  a  scientific 
study  and  administration  of  the  schools. 

The  view  advocated  in  this  chapter  is  also  at  variance 
with  the  conception  expressed  in  the  titles  of  the  chief 
school  officers  of  German  schools.  There  the  head  of 
a  school  is  a  rector  or  director.  His  personal  authority 
is  large.  He  continues  in  many  cases  to  teach ;  his  ad- 
ministrative influence  as  implied  in  his  title  arises  from  the 
fact  that  he  represents  the  state.  His  task  is  that  of  dictating 
school  policies,  not  that  of  organizing  the  school  on  the 
basis  of  a  complete  scientific  study  of  the  educational 
situation  in  the  community  in  which  he  works. 

It  cannot  be  asserted  that  the  American  principals  of 
schools  are  everywhere  devoted  and  competent  students  of  the 
science  of  education.  There  is,  however,  a  freer  opportunity 
in  our  schools  than  in  those  of  any  other  nation  for  a  com- 
plete realization  of  the  scientific  ideal.  There  is  comparative 
freedom  of  organization,  and  there  is  comparative  adequacy 
of  equipment.  There  is  at  hand  a  body  of  broadly  collected 
information.  With  this  background  there  is  every  prospect 
of  a  more  intelligent  use  of  all  the  opportunities  which  are 
gradually  being  evolved  for  intelligent  scientific  supervision. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

The  study  of  community  needs  has  been  carried  on  most  vig- 
orously in  trying  to  answer  the  question.  What  industrial  training 
do  pupils  in  cities  need  ?  The  National  Society  for  the  Promotion 


298     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

of  Industrial  Education  has  organized  three  extensive  surveys, 
one  in  Richmond,  Virginia,  one  in  Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  and 
one  in  the  state  of  Indiana.  One  of  the  best  exercises  which  can 
be  suggested  is  for  the  class  to  study  the  needs  of  a  community 
after  the  model  of  one  of  these  surveys. 

A  second  exercise  that  may  be  suggested  is  that  of  examining 
the  operations  of  a  school  building  in  detail.  How  does  a  building 
get  its  supplies  ?  How  many  janitors  are  there  ?  Who  supervises 
the  janitors  ?  How  much  tim&  does  a  principal  spend  in  visiting 
rooms?  What  reports  does  a  principal  have  to  render?  What 
reports  do  the  teachers  render  to  the  principal  ? 

The  volumes  of  the  Cleveland  survey,  including  those  which 
deal  with  industrial  education,  are  models  of  exposition  of  com- 
munity needs.  (Copies  may  be  secured  from  the  Russell  Sage 
Foundation,  New  York  City.) 

There  is  a  body  of  sociological  material  with  which  students  of 
this  chapter  ought  to  become  acquainted.  See  the  Survey  (New 
York  City),  a  journal  devoted  to  the  discussion  of  sociological 
problems. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION 
SCIENTIFIC  METHODS  OF  STUDYING  SCHOOLS 

Each  of  the  preceding  chapters  has  aimed  to  set  forth 
certain  practical  school  problems  and  to  suggest  the  sources 
of  information  on  the  basis  of  which  these  problems  are 
to  be  solved.  Some  of  the  information  to  which  reference 
has  been  made  is  confessedly  incomplete ;  some  of  it  is  in  a 
form  which  renders  very  difficult  exact  and  final  inferences 
as  to  its  meaning.  Taken  in  the  aggregate,  however,  the 
body  of  information  at  hand  regarding  schools  is  so  great 
that  we  are  justified  in  speaking  of  a  science  of  education. 
Furthermore,  the  use  of  the  term  "science"  would  be  jus- 
tified even  if  we  were  in  possession  of  fewer  solutions  of 
school  problems  than  we  now  have,  for  the  essence  of  sci- 
ence is  its  method  of  investigation,  not  its  ability  to  lay 
down  a  body  of  final  rules  of  action. 

A  complete  transformation  of  the  method  of  approaching 
school  problems  has  come  about  in  recent  years.  The  time 
was  when  opinion,  especially  if  it  was  backed  by  even  a 
little  practical  experience,  was  urged  as  sufficient  reason  for 
all  kinds  of  school  practices.  To-day  it  is  only  the  rashly 
ignorant  who  talk  about  education  or  aim  to  influence  actual 
school  operations  without  informing  themselves  through  a 
study  of  known  and  recorded  facts.  A  host  of  practical 
school  officers  and  special  students  of  school  problems 
have  carried  out  laborious  investigations  and  have  created 
a  technical  literature  which  promises  to  reach  every  phase 
of  school  work. 

299 


300     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

DEFINITION  THROUGH  ENUMERATION  OF  METHODS 

It  is  not  too  early,  therefore,  to  define  the  scope  and 
methods  of  the  science  of  education.  Such  a  definition 
need  in  no  wise  limit  the  further  development  of  the  sci- 
ence, while  it  may  serve  to  stimulate  more  exact  formulation 
of  its  problems  and  methods.  Our  effort  to  frame  such  a 
definition  naturally  leads  us  to  review  the  courses  which 
have  commonly  been  given  to  teachers-in-training. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  EDUCATIONAL  THEORY  AND  PRACTICE 

The  historical  method  of  studying  education  was  the 
first  which  was  cultivated  in  institutions  which  undertook 
the  training  of  teachers.  The  history  of  education  divides 
readily  into  two  branches  :  one  deals  with  the  history  of 
educational  theories,  the  other  with  the  history  of  actual 
school  practices.  The  history  of  theories  is  the  easier  of 
the  two  branches  to  cultivate  because  it  consists  chiefly 
in  a  review  of  the  writings  left  behind  by  writers  who 
discuss  educational  problems.  Thus  the  earlier  histories  of 
education  laid  great  emphasis  on  the  writings  of  Plato  and 
Quintilian,  of  Comenius  and  Locke,  of  Rousseau  and 
Pestalozzi.  Reviews  of  earlier  writers  were,  however,  of 
little  real  influence  in  molding  modern  practice,  and  the 
history  of  theories  had  only  a  very  indirect  influence  on 
teachers. 

More  significant  by  far  is  the  recent  movement  which 
studies  practices  in  schools,  especially  the  schools  of  one's 
own  country.  The  development  of  arithmetic  or  grammar 
in  American  schools  is  illuminating  as  showing  both  the 
direction  in  which  we  are  moving  and  the  kinds  of  forces 
which  operate  in  reformulating  the  course  of  study.  Earlier 
chapters  have  aimed  to  suggest  the  value  of  such  studies, 
especially  Chapters  II  and  III. 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  301 

COURSES  IN  PSYCHOLOGY 

Along  with  the  study  of  the  history  of  education  there  has 
commonly  been  prescribed  in  training  schools  for  teachers 
a  course  in  psychology.  Herbart  pointed  out  more  than  a 
hundred  years  ago  the  importance  of  the  study  of  mental 
processes  as  a  basis  for  the  proper  direction  of  educational 
practices.  The  science  of  psychology  has  also  by  its  own 
developments  encouraged  the  practical  educator  to  expect 
help  in  the  solution  of  school  problems.  There  was  a  period 
when  so-called  child  psychology  flourished  in  this  country  and 
aimed  to  contribute  to  the  development  of  school  methods 
as  well  as  to  the  solution  of  problems  of  the  curriculum  and 
school  management. 

EDUCATIONAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

A  friendly  alliance  will  always  exist  between  the  science 
of  psychology  and  the  science  of  education.  Psychology  has 
given  to  education  certain  methods  and  such  special  results 
as  it  has  worked  out  with  regard  to  memory  and  learning 
and  the  nature  of  behavior ;  education  has  taken  the  psy- 
chological material  and  developed  a  special  branch  of  science 
under  the  name  "educational  psychology." 

There  are  two  fruitful  psychological  methods  which  have 
been  borrowed  in  this  way  and  put  to  work  for  education. 
These  are  the  statistical  method  and  the  experimental  method. 

STATISTIC' A i.  STI/HIKS 

An  impressive  example  of  the  statistical  method  is  given 
in  the  studies  of  individual  differences.  For  example,  Thorn- 
dike  has  made  a  careful  study  of  the  degrees  of  likeness 
between  twins,  and  between  brothers  and  sisters  who  arc  not 
twins,  for  the  purpose  of  defining  more  fully  the  meaning 
of  the  term  "individual  differences." 


302     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

THE  EXPERIMENTAL  METHOD 

The  experimental  method  has  been  employed  in  many 
ways.  Thus,  Freeman  has  recorded  with  the  aid  of  suitable 
apparatus  the  rate  at  which  one  writes  long  and  short  letters. 
This  study  he  has  made  with  individuals  of  various  ages 
and  degrees  of  training  and  under  different  conditions.  One 
result  which  he  derived  from  these  records  is  the  fact  that 
a  given  writer's  rhythm  of  movement  is  the  same  in  letters 
of  different  sizes  and  becomes  more  regular  and  more  fixed 
with  increase  in  skill. 

EXTENSION  OF  USE  OF  PSYCHOLOGICAL  METHODS 

In  taking  over  the  methods  of  psychology  and  applying 
them  to  the  solution  of  educational  problems,  a  secondary 
advantage  of  the  greatest  importance  has  come  to  the  science 
of  education.  These  methods  are  capable  of  adaptation  to 
a  much  broader  range  of  problems  than  psychology  would 
have  attempted  to  solve.  Both  the  statistical  method  and 
,the  experimental  method  have  accordingly  been  carried 
over  in  the  science  of  education  to  the  widest  possible  range 
of  applications. 

STUDIES  OF  RETARDATION 

One  of  the  first  and  most  fruitful  statistical  studies  made 
in  education  dealt  with  the  retardation  of  pupils.  Those 
who  fell  behind  their  grade  were  counted,  and  the  problem 
which  they  presented  was  stated  emphatically  enough  to 
bring  about  the  organization  of  all  kinds  of  special  devices 
for  the  training  of  retarded  individuals  and  groups. 

SCHOOL  EXPERIMENTS  AND  LABORATORY  STUDIES 

The  experimental  method  was  carried  over  and  applied 
to  whole  classes.  For  example,  two  parallel  classes  were 
measured  with  reference  to  the  effects  of  supervised  study. 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  303 

The  experimental  method  has  also  been  productively 
applied  in  detailed,  analytical  studies  of  particular  subjects. 
Thus,  to  recall  an  example  presented  in  an  earlier  chapter, 
reading  has  been  investigated  in  the  cases  of  slow  and 
fast  readers  when  they  were  reading  orally  and  silently, 
when  they  were  trained  by  the  ordinary  methods  of  the 
school,  and  when  they  were  trained  by  special  methods 
adapted  to  their  individual  cases.  Like  studies  have  been 
made  of  the  movements  performed  in  writing  and  of  the 
stages  passed  through  in  various  learning  processes. 

EXAMPLES  THROUGHOUT  EARLIER  CHAPTERS 

Further  examples  will,  however,  be  unnecessary  for  the 
reader  who  has  had  the  patience  to  go  through  the  earlier 
chapters  of  this  volume.  There  are  numerous  illustrations 
in  those  chapters  of  statistical  and  experimental  investiga- 
tions of  educational  problems.  These  investigations  show 
the  extent  to  which  the  new  science  has  borrowed  from 
the  old  and  the  extent  to  which  a  new  structure  has  been 
erected  which  has  a  right  to  claim  an  independent  name 
and  rank  among  the  social  sciences. 

STUDIES  OF  ADMINISTRATIVE  PROBLEMS 

The  recognition  of  the  science  of  education  as  a  separate 
discipline  can  be  urged  on  the  ground  that  the  scientific 
methods  which  were  first  applied  to  the  problems  of  mental 
development  have  opened  up  every  aspect  of  school  organi- 
zation to  scientific  study.  Thus,  in  the  field  of  administra- 
tion more  than  in  any  other  field  the  value  of  scientific 
studies  has  been  recogni/x'd.  The  promotion  of  pupils,  the 
grading  system,  the  construction  of  buildings,  and  the  or- 
ganization of  financial  systems  are  all  spheres  in  which 
exact  scientific  metruxls  have  in  recent  years  worked  most 
important  transformations  in  practice. 


304     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

METHOD  OF  COMPARISON 

In  many  investigations  the  method  of  comparison  has 
been  brought  to  a  degree  of  perfection  which  justifies  ref- 
erence to  it  as  a  special  method  of  scientific  research.  All 
the  previous  discussions  of  standardization  show  how  a 
single  school  system  profits  by  the  effort  to  evaluate  its 
own  practices  in  the  light  of  the  experiences  and  results  of 
other  school  systems. 

RECORDS  NECESSARY  TO  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY 

The  scientific  methods  which  have  been  referred  to  imply 
as  their  necessary  basis  a  series  of  detailed  and  accurate 
records.  Some  of  these  records,  as,  for  example,  those 
which  show  school  attendance  and  those  which  deal  with 
expenditures,  are  kept  in  ordinary  routine.  Some  have  to 
be  made  especially  for  the  purposes  of  scientific  studies. 
Here  belong  all  those  records  which  are  made  through  tests. 
Tests  are  merely  devices  for  showing  clearly  and  explicitly 
how  far  educational  practices  have  succeeded  in  special  cases. 

SUBDIVISIONS  OF  THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION 

The  subdivisions  into  which  the  science  of  education  nat- 
urally breaks  up  are  dictated  in  part  by  the  needs  of  differ- 
ent individuals  within  the  school  system  and  in  part  by  the 
methods  which  are  employed.  Thus  the  supervisor  needs 
a  different  type  of  training  from  that  which  is  required  by 
the  classroom  teacher.  Again,  the  functions  of  the  differ- 
ent supervisors  are  so  different  that  some  require  full  infor- 
mation on  problems  of  school  finance,  while  others  are  in 
more  direct  contact  with  the  problems  of  promotion  and  of 
the  curriculum.  A  second  line  of  cleavage  is  that  which 
is  described  most  fully  in  this  chapter  and  results  from  the 
use  of  different  methods  of  investigation.  Thus,  laboratory 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  305 

studies  of  reading  and  writing  naturally  separate  themselves 
from  statistical  studies  of  administrative  problems. 

Another  line  of  division  is  that  dictated  by  school  organi- 
zation. High-school  problems  are  likely  to  be  considered 
in  special  courses,  elementary-school  problems  in  others. 

There  is  no  need  in  a  general  introduction  of  the  type 
here  offered  of  attempting  to  consider  these  subdivisions. 
Our  purposes  are  adequately  served  if  we  can  show  what 
the  science  as  a  whole  is  by  referring  to  typical  examples 
of  scientific  work  undertaken  in  several  of  the  subdivisions. 

RAPID  EXPANSION  OF  THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION 

Furthermore,  it  is  to  be  understood  explicitly  that  the 
science  of  education  is  in  process  of  rapid  expansion.  Any 
effort  to  describe  its  methods  and  content  in  full  would  of 
necessity  fail.  The  rapid  enlargement  of  the  science  and 
its  methods  in  recent  years  is  the  most  impressive  fact 
which  can  be  recorded  in  a  chapter  describing  the  scope 
and  purpose  of  such  a  study.  A  simple  definition  within 
which  there  is  wide  room  for  expansion  is  therefore  the 
only  definition  which  is  appropriate  at  the  end  of  this 
introduction. 

DEFINITION  OF  THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION 

The  science  of  education  aims  to  collect  by  all  available 
methods  full  information  with  regard  to  the  origin,  devel- 
opment, and  present  form  of  school  practices  and  also  full 
information  with  regard  to  social  needs.  It  aims  to  subject 
present  practices  to  rigid  tests  and  comparisons  and  to 
analyze  all  procedure  in  the  schools  by  experimental  methods 
and  by  observation.  It  aims  to  secure  complete  and  definite 
records  of  all  that  the  school  attempts  and  accomplishes. 
The  results  of  school  work  are  to  be  evaluated  by  rigid 
methods  of  comparison  and  analysis.  To  direct  studies  of 


306     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

the  school  the  science  of  education  must  add  full  studies  of 
the  social  life  of  which  the  school  is  a  part  and  of  the  indi- 
vidual nature  which  is  to  be  trained  and  molded  through 
the  educational  processes.  In  the  light  of  such  studies  the 
science  of  education  is  to  suggest  such  enlargements  and 
modifications  of  school  practices  as  seem  likely  to  promote 
the  evolution  of  the  educational  system. 

This  program  is  so  comprehensive  in  its  scope  that  it 
becomes  evident  at  once  that  the  science  of  education  is 
a  composite  science  requiring  the  cooperation  of  many  in- 
vestigators. In  its  formulations  it  may  deal  in  a  broad  way 
with  general  problems,  or  it  may  break  up  into  numerous 
subdivisions  appealing  to  the  specialist. 

It  would  therefore  be  more  accurate  to  describe  it  as  a 
group  of  specialized  studies  rather  than  as  a  single  discipline. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

This  chapter  furnishes  an  opportunity  to  study  the  contributions 
of  other  sciences  to  the  study  of  educational  problems.  What  does 
biology  contribute  ?  In  this  connection  Spencer's  first  essay  is 
perhaps  one  of  the  clearest  examples  of  application  of  biology  to 
education.  Stanley  Hall  has  carried  to  an  extreme  the  use  of  bio- 
logical hypotheses  ("Adolescence,"  D.  Appleton  and  Company). 
Fiske  in  his  essay  on  the  "  Meaning  of  Infancy"  (Houghton  Mifflin 
Company)  furnishes  another  example.  The  student  should  raise 
pointedly  the  question  whether  biological  principles  apply  without 
modification  to  human  education. 

The  discussions  of  biology  pass  directly  into  the  consideration 
of  psychology.  James's  "Talks  to  Teachers  on  Psychology" 
(Henry  Holt  and  Company)  is  a  very  good  beginning  of  read- 
ings in  this  line.  One  of  the  most  recent  and  productive  books 
is  Freeman's  "The  Psychology  of  the  Common  Branches  "(Hough- 
ton  Mifflin  Company).  There  are  many  general  psychologies. 
The  student  will  be  led  by  a  study  of  some  of  these  books  to  the 
problem  of  distinguishing  between  general  psychology  and  educa- 
tional psychology. 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION  307 

Another  type  of  related  science  is  to  be  found  in  the  mathe- 
matical sciences  which  contribute  to  educational  studies.  Thorndike's 
"  An  Introduction  to  the  Theory  of  Mental  and  Social  Measure- 
ments "  (Science  Press)  was  the  first  systematic  effort  to  put  statis- 
tical methods  into  form  for  educators.  A  much  more  satisfactory 
treatment  of  statistical  methods  is  to  be  found  in  H.  O.  Rugg's 
"  Statistical  Methods  applied  to  Education "  (Houghton  Mifflin 
Company).  Numerous  examples  have  been  cited  in  earlier  chapters 
of  applications  of  statistics  to  education.  To  that  list  might  be 
added  Ayres's  "Laggards  in  our  Schools"  (Russell  Sage  Founda- 
tion, New  York  City)  and  the  statistical  volumes  of  the  reports  of 
the  Commissioner  of  Education,  which  both  in  the  facts  presented 
and  in  the  summaries  represent  the  most  elaborate  collection  of 
educational  statistics  in  any  report  on  schools  anywhere  in  the 
world. 

By  way  of  an  independent  exercise  under  this  chapter  let  the 
student  describe  a  particular  scientific  study  which  it  would  be 
appropriate  to  require  each  of  the  following  school  officers  to 
carry  out :  a  superintendent,  a  supervisor  of  drawing,  a  principal 
of  a  high  school,  a  principal  of  an  elementary  school,  a  high-school 
teacher  of  Latin,  a  teacher  in  charge  of  a  third  grade. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS 
INCREASING  DEMAND  FOR  PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING 

It  has  been  the  aim  of  the  preceding  chapters  of  this 
volume  to  make  it  clear  that  the  teacher  of  the  future  must 
be  able  to  cope  in  a  large  and  intelligent  way  with  problems 
which  are  not  discussed  in  courses  dealing  with  the  subject- 
matter  ordinarily  taught  in  schools.  The  compensations 
offered  to  the  trained  teacher  are  fortunately  more  adequate 
than  formerly,  and  increasingly  justify  the  demand  that  the 
teacher  bring  to  his  or  her  task  a  more  complete  professional 
training. 

AMERICAN  NORMAL  SCHOOLS 

The  proper  content  of  a  professional  training  is  a  matter 
on  which  there  is  no  general  agreement  in  the  United  States. 
For  a  little  more  than  seventy-five  years  there  have  existed 
in  this  country  normal  schools  for  the  training  of  elementary- 
school  teachers.  These  institutions  have  in  some  cases 
required  graduation  from  high  school  as  a  prerequisite  for 
admission,  but  more  commonly  not.  Their  courses  of  study 
have  in  some  schools  consisted  chiefly  of  reviews  of 
elementary-school  subjects  supplemented  by  a  modicum 
of  methodology  or  discussion  of  how  to  teach  the  subjects. 
In  other  cases  the  courses  of  the  normal  school  have  been 
general,  of  the  type  commonly  offered  in  colleges  or  high 
schools.  Sometimes  the  normal  school  has  given  its  students 
large  opportunity  to  teach  children  in  so-called  practice 

308 


PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS     309 

schools  or  model  schools.  Sometimes,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  students  in  normal  schools  have  had  no  direct  contact 
with  classroom  management,  but  have  gone  out  into  the 
schools  equipped  only  with  the  theory  of  teaching. 

The  situation  with  regard  to  these  institutions  is  set  forth 
in  the  following  paragraphs  from  a  bulletin  of  the  United 
States  Bureau  of  Education  : 

Normal  schools  differ  from  each  other  very  widely  in  organiza- 
tion, in  admission  requirements,  in  courses  of  study,  and  in  modes 
of  instruction.  The  explanation  of  this  lack  of  uniformity  is  to  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  normal  schools  have  never  been  a  part  of 
the  system  of  higher  education  evolved  in  this  country.  Normal 
schools  have  grown  up  in  isolation.  While  the  colleges  have  been 
in  the  closest  touch  with  each  other  through  the  organization  of 
entrance  examination  boards  and  accrediting  institutions,  while 
high  schools  have  been  brought  together  by  standard  definitions  of 
units,  normal  schools  have  stood  apart.  The  typical  normal  school 
derives  its  financial  support  from  legislative  appropriations,  re- 
ceives its  students  without  competition  from  a  territory  over  which 
it  exercises  exclusive  control,  and  has  no  difficulty  in  placing  its 
graduates  in  positions  which  they  regard  as  satisfactory.  Further- 
more, so  urgent  has  been  the  demand  in  the  country  for  teachers 
that  school  boards  and  superintendents  have  not  been  able  to 
make  rigid  selections,  with  the  result  that  standards  of  training 
have  not  been  forced  upon  the  normal  schools  from  without. 

In  a  situation  where  relative  isolation  has  not  compelled  normal 
schools  to  define  themselves  to  others  there  has  been  the  largest 
opportunity  for  the  play  of  personal  influences.  A  strong  president 
has  often  dominated  the  policies  of  a  normal  school  to  a  degree 
that  is  almost  unbelievable.  The  faculty  sometimes  has  little  or  no 
voice  in  determining  the  courses  or  the  modes  of  admission. 
There  is  no  State  authority  in  most  of  the  States  which  is  strong 
enough  to  determine  what  shall  be  done  in  normal  schools.  The 
result  is  that  within  a  single  State  there  are  the  widest  variations. 
One  president  with  the  ambition  to  develop  his  institution  into  a 
degree-granting  university  goes  on  his  way,  while  his  neighbor 
uses  the  funds  granted  by  the  same  legislature  to  develop  a 


310     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

normal  school  which  loudly  announces  its  objection  to  granting 
degrees  and  limits  its  activities  rigidly  to  the  training  of  ele- 
mentary teachers. 

In  recent  years  a  number  of  causes  have  begun  to  break  down 
the  isolation  of  the  normal  school.  First  and  foremost  is  the  desire 
of  normal  graduates  to  enjoy  the  advantages  of  higher  education 
in  universities  and  colleges.  The  growth  of  summer  schools  at 
universities  and  the  frequent  transfer  of  normal-school  graduates 
to  college  and  graduate  courses  show  with  clearness  the  desire  of 
teachers  to  enjoy  the  advantages  of  all  kinds  of  higher  education. 
Normal  schools,  drawn  into  the  current  of  higher  education,  have 
been  called  upon  to  announce  more  definitely  their  requirements 
for  admission  and  to  describe  the  content  of  their  courses.  What 
is  a  course  in  methods  of  teaching  arithmetic  ?  Is  it  a  review  of 
the  course  given  in  an  elementary  school  or  is  it  a  discussion 
of  the  pedagogical  principles  on  which  such  courses  are  arranged  ? 
What  is  a  course  in  practice  teaching  ?  Does  such  a  course  require 
of  the  student  any  study  of  material,  and  does  it  afford  him  any 
adequate  critical  discussion  of  his  work  ?  There  has  been  a  sharp 
and  at  times  unfriendly  clash  between  normal  schools  and  colleges 
in  the  effort  to  secure  answers  to  such  questions.  The  normal 
school  often  takes  the  position  that  it  administers  only  high-grade 
courses,  while  the  colleges  express  a  frank  doubt  as  to  the  value 
of  these  courses  for  mature  students. 

Perhaps  the  disagreement  between  normal  schools  and  colleges 
can  best  be  illustrated  by  the  widespread  dispute  regarding  foreign 
languages.  The  normal  school  has  been  historically  related  to  the 
vernacular  school,  and  its  officers  have  had  little  patience  with  clas- 
sical or  even  literary  courses.  The  traditions  of  the  college  are  of 
a  totally  different  type.  So  long  as  no  students  passed  from  normal 
schools  to  colleges  the  normal  schools  were  at  liberty  to  hold  to 
the  vernacular,  but  as  soon  as  normal-school  graduates  sought 
admission  to  higher  institutions  the  controversy  was  on. 

A  second  reason  why  normal  schools  have  been  called  upon  to 
define  themselves  arises  because  colleges  and  universities  have  in 
recent  years  entered  the  field  of  teacher  training  through  the  organ- 
ization of  departments  of  education  and  colleges  of  education.  In 
the  State  universities  the  demand  for  preparation  of  high-school 


PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS     311 

teachers  has  been  heard,  and  generous  provisions  have  in  many 
cases  been  made  for  the  work  of  preparing  such  teachers.  The 
normal  schools  have  looked  upon  this  organization  of  teacher- 
training  courses  as  undesired  competition.  Conversely,  the  uni- 
versity authorities  have  been  critical  of  the  courses  in  the  normal 
schools,  and  the  issue  has  been  sharply  drawn.  Incidentally  it  may 
be  remarked  that  college  departments  of  education  have  usually 
been  subjected  to  the  closest  scrutiny  and  sometimes  to  violent 
criticism  by  other  college  departments  because  of  their  supposed 
inferiority.  It  may  even  be  admitted  that  entrance  requirements 
in  the  departments  of  education  have  sometimes  been  lower  than 
those  for  other  college  departments  in  the  hope  of  meeting  the  com- 
petition of  normal  schools,  and  courses  of  inferior  standard  in  the 
college  have  been  tolerated  for  like  reason.  All  of  these  disputes 
and  efforts  at  adjustment  have  aroused  a  general  inquiry  about 
teacher-training  courses  which  a  generation  ago  would  have  been 
without  interest  except  to  a  small  group  of  specialists.  Now  the 
problem  is  known  to  all  who  are  interested  in  education,  and  the 
discussion  must  go  on  until  some  satisfactory  conclusion  is  reached.1 

AMERICAN  DEMANDS  ON  SECONDARY-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 

If  the  situation  with  regard  to  the  training  of  elementary- 
school  teachers  is  chaotic,  the  situation  with  regard  to 
secondary-school  teachers  is  more  so.  Until  very  recently 
there  was  little  or  no  effort  in  the  state  laws  defining  re- 
quirements for  teachers'  certificates  to  distinguish  between 
elementary  teachers  and  teachers  in  high  schools.  The 
candidate  for  a  position  in  I^atin  found  himself  taking  the 
same  examination  that  would  have  been  required  if  he  had 
been  about  to  teach  a  third  grade.  Of  course  in  practice 
the  school  officers  who  employed  the  I^atin  teacher  took 
steps  to  assure  themselves  that  he  had  studied  that  subject, 
but  practice  in  this  respect  has  never  been  standardized. 

'Charles  Hubbard  Judd  and  Samuel  Chester  Parker,  Problems  involved 
in  Standardizing  State  Normal  Schools,  pp.  7-9.  Bulletin  .\'<>.  /i,  t'nitcd 
States  Bureau  of  Kducation,  1916. 


312     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

GERMAN  TRAINING  OF  SECONDARY-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 

By  way  of  setting  up  a  contrast  we  may  review  the  sys- 
tem which  prevailed  in  Germany  before  1914.  The  German 
system  was  the  most  highly  developed  system  of  training 
secondary-school  teachers  in  the  world. 

Candidates  for  positions  in  the  secondary  schools  must  first  of 
all  have  completed  the  course  of  one  of  the  secondary  schools.  In 
the  second  place,  the  candidate  must  have  attended  a  German 
university  for  at  least  six  semesters.  Here  an  exception  is  made 
in  the  case  of  those  candidates  who  expect  to  teach  in  the  sciences. 
They  may  take  half  of  the  university  courses  in  one  of  the  technical 
institutions  rather  than  in  university  lectures. 

After  this  preliminary  training  is  completed,  the  candidate  pre- 
sents himself  for  an  examination.  Usually  the  period  of  training 
is  much  longer  than  the  minimum  above  described.  Indeed,  in 
most  cases  candidates  take  the  university  doctor's  degree  before 
they  come  up  for  the  examination.  The  examination  consists  of 
two  parts.  First,  there  is  a  general  examination  covering  those 
subjects  which  are  supposed  to  be  essential  as  training  for  all 
departments ;  and,  second,  there  is  a  special  examination  given  in 
the  particular  subject  in  which  the  candidate  is  preparing  to  teach. 
Both  examinations  include  written  and  oral  divisions.  .  .  . 

The  examinations  are  formidable  ordeals.  They  are  conducted 
by  special  commissioners.  On  these  commissions  are  university 
professors,  officers  of  the  education  department,  and  representatives 
of  the  secondary  schools.  The  candidate  is  first  required  to  present 
two  elaborate  theses,  one  on  some  phase  of  the  general  subjects 
and  one  in  the  subject  in  which  he  has  elected  to  take  a  complete 
examination.  At  the  discretion  of  the  commission  the  candidate's 
doctor's  dissertation  may  be  substituted  for  one  of  these  theses. 
A  period  of  1 6  weeks  is  allowed  for  their  preparation,  and  they  are 
intended  to  show  the  ability  of  the  candidate  to  carry  on  independ- 
ent research  in  his  selected  field,  and  his  ability  to  formulate  mate- 
rial in  a  clear  and  systematic  fashion.  After  the  presentation  of 
these  theses  there  follows  a  written  examination,  followed  in  turn 
by  an  oral  examination. 


PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS     313 

After  the  examination  the  successful  candidate  now  has  before 
him  two  years  of  contact  with  the  schoolroom  before  he  can  become 
a  teacher  with  a  regular  position.  The  first  of  these  trial  years  is 
known  as  the  Seminar  year  and  the  second  as  the  Trial  year. 
During  both  of  these  periods  the  candidate  is  connected  with  one 
of  the  secondary  schools  and  is  under  the  general  direction  of  the 
principal  or  director  of  this  school.  .  .  . 

After  a  candidate  has  been  assigned  to  a  particular  school,  it 
becomes  his  duty,  first  of  all,  to  participate  in  the  activities  of  that 
school  in  any  way  that  he  can.  He  is  usually  assigned  to  some 
teacher,  whose  reports  he  helps  to  prepare  and  whose  classes  he 
has  to  visit  with  regularity.  In  addition,  he  is  expected  to  visit  all  of 
the  classes  in  the  institution,  so  as  to  observe  different  methods  of 
instruction  and  class  management.  It  is  required  that  the  candi- 
date meet  with  the  director  two  hours  a  week  for  special  training.  At 
this  point  in  particular  the  greatest  diversity  of  practice  appears.  .  . . 

Sometimes  the  meeting  is  conducted  as  a  demonstration  lesson  ; 
sometimes  it  is  a  discussion ;  sometimes  it  is  a  series  of  reports 
by  candidates ;  sometimes  a  lecture  by  the  director  or  one  of  the 
teachers  of  the  school.  .  .  . 

After  the  candidates  have  gone  through  a  part  of  the  first  year's 
training  and  have  become  somewhat  familiar  with  the  methods  of 
instruction  in  the  classes  which  they  visit  and  through  the  advice 
which  they  receive  in  the  weekly  meetings,  they  are  allowed  to 
give  instruction.  At  first  this  instruction  is  limited  to  single  class 
exercises  under  the  immediate  supervision  of  the  regular  teacher. 
The  candidate  is  expected  to  prepare  fully  for  such  an  exercise,  so 
that  he  may  carry  on  the  work  of  the  students  in  accordance  with 
the  general  plan  adopted  by  the  regular  teacher.  The  regular 
teacher  remains  in  the  class  during  the  instruction  given  by  the 
candidate,  and  after  the  class  has  been  dismissed  the  teacher  gives 
the  candidate  the  benefit  of  such  criticism  as  he  has  to  make. 
Opportunity  for  these  criticisms  is  presented  by  the  school  program, 
which  is  uniformly  so  arranged  that  45  minutes  of  class  work  are 
followed  by  1 5  minutes  of  recess.  The  criticisms  are  in  some  cases 
very  helpful,  especially  where  the  teacher  is  interested  in  developing 
better  methods  of  instruction  uj>on  the  part  of  the  candidate.  <  >n 
the  other  hand,  the  criticisms  are  often  very  severe  and  sometimes 


3H     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

even  caustic.  In  any  case,  the  candidate  learns  through  the  com- 
ments given  him  by  the  teacher  how  far  he  has  failed  to  conform 
to  the  expectation  of  the  school.  .  .  . 

Several  weeks  before  the  close  of  the  seminar  year  each  candi- 
date is  called  upon  to  prepare  a  thesis  on  some  concrete  pedagogical 
or  didactic  problem  set  for  him  by  the  director.  This  thesis  consti- 
tutes part  of  his  preparation  for  the  teaching  profession  and  may 
be  the  outcome  of  his  readings  or  the  outcome  of  his  observation. 
Not  uncommonly  the  candidate  makes  an  elaborate  study  of 
some  of  the  pedagogical  literature  related  to  his  subject.  It  is  to 
be  remembered  that  many  of  these  candidates  have  already  com- 
pleted the  work  for  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy  in  the  uni- 
versity and  are  for  that  reason  trained  in  the  methods  of  research 
and  in  the  preparation  of  theses,  while  all  have  prepared  elaborate 
theses  in  connection  with  the  examinations  which  admitted  them 
to  the  seminar  year. 

At  the  end  of  the  seminar  year  the  director,  with  the  coopera- 
tion of  the  other  teachers  who  have  observed  the  work  of  the 
candidate,  makes  a  report  to  the  school  authorities,  and  if  the  work 
of  the  candidate  has  been  satisfactory  he  is  now  advanced  to  a 
higher  grade  and  enters  upon  the  trial  year. 

During  the  trial  year  he  is  required  to  teach  six  to  eight  hours 
a  week  without  compensation.  If  he  is  especially  fortunate,  he 
may  receive  some  compensation  for  substitute  teaching  which  is 
needed  by  the  school.  In  the  main,  however,  he  is  called  upon  to 
carry  a  heavy  burden  of  work  without  any  compensation  from  the 
school.  The  director  may  also  use  his  services  for  other  purposes, 
such  as  the  preparation  of  reports,  the  checking  of  lists,  and  other 
duties  which  need  to  be  attended  to  for  the  purpose  of  administer- 
ing the  school.  During  this  trial  year  the  regular  teacher  is  not 
required  to  attend  the  classes  conducted  by  candidates.  The  can- 
didate, therefore,  gradually  acquires  independence  in  his  conduct 
of  the  classes. 

At  the  end  of  this  trial  year  another  report  is  made  of  the  activi- 
ties of  the  candidate  and  the  judgment  of  the  teachers  in  the 
school  with  respect  to  his  success.  If  this  report  is  favorable  the 
candidate  is  now  put  on  the  eligible  list  and  may  be  appointed  to 
a  permanent  position.  The  length  of  time  which  it  is  necessary  for 


PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS     315 

him  to  wait  for  this  permanent  appointment  is  determined  wholly 
by  the  needs  of  the  schools.  If  there  are  no  vacancies,  the  candi- 
date may  wait  a  relatively  long  period  of  time,  in  some  cases  as 
long  as  four  or  five  years.  On  the  other  hand,  for  some  years  past 
it  has  been  possible  in  most  cities  for  candidates  to  receive  appoint- 
ment almost  immediately  on  completion  of  the  trial  year.1 


NEW  COURSES  IN  COLLEGES  AND  UNIVERSITIES 
FOR  SECONDARY-SCHOOL  TEACHERS 

The  example  of  Germany  is  instructive  as  showing  some- 
thing of  the  amount  of  professional  training  which  may  be 
deemed  necessary  properly  to  qualify  a  teacher  of  secondary 
schools.  It  is  not  at  all  likely  that  the  particular  method 
adopted  will  be  followed  in  the  United  States.  Indeed, 
there  is  a  rapidly  developing  movement  in  American  col- 
leges and  universities  to  provide  training  for  such  teachers. 
The  state  universities  especially  have  developed  in  recent 
years  series  of  courses,  both  in  subject-matter  and  in  pro- 
fessional lines,  designed  to  train  secondary-school  teachers. 
These,  like  the  normal-school  courses  described  above,  are 
very  little  standardized,  but  are  promising  as  a  nucleus  for 
the  final  organizations  which  will  solve  the  problem. 

The  following  paragraph  indicates  the  existing  conditions: 

The  significant  fact  is  that  21  of  24  universities  report  teachers' 
courses.  This  means  that  in  some  way  the  academic  departments 
are  professionally  cooperating  with  schools  or  departments  of  edu- 
cation in  furnishing  to  intending  teachers  the  special  methods  and 
peculiar  technique,  as  well  as  more  fundamental  educational  prin- 
ciples and  distinctive  values  of  the  actual  subjects  the  students  will 
teach  when  they  take  positions  in  the  schools.  The  projxT  coordi- 
nation of  the  university  forces  contributing  to  teaching  efficiency 

1  Charles  IF.  Jucld,  The  Training  of  Teachers  in  Kn^l-incl.  Scotland. and 
'Germany,  pp.  74-82.  /iulfetin  .\i>.  jj.  United  Slates  llurcau  of  Kducalion, 
1914. 


316     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

is  the  curriculum  problem  for  the  immediate  future  in  university 
administration.  At  present  the  solutions  are  about  as  numerous 
as  the  institutions  concerned.1 


THE  REQUIREMENTS  OF  A  STANDARDIZING  ASSOCIATION 

The  standardization  of  the  requirements  will  require  legis- 
lation or  the  action  of  central  standardizing  associations. 
This  movement  is  now  under  way.  The  North  Central 
Association  of  Colleges  and  Secondary  Schools  sets  as  its 
standards  for  approval  of  high  schools  the  following : 

All  teachers  teaching  one  or  more  academic  subjects  must  sat- 
isfy the  following  standards : 

A.  The  minimum  attainment  of  teachers  of  academic  subjects 
shall  be  equivalent  to  graduation  from  a  college  belonging  to  the 
North  Central  Association  of  Colleges  and   Secondary  Schools 
requiring  the  completion  of  a  four-year  course  of  study  or  120 
semester  hours  in  advance  of  a  standard  four-year  high  school 
course.     Such  requirement  shall  not  be  construed  as  retroactive. 

B.  The  minimum  professional  training  of  teachers  of  academic 
subjects  shall  be  at  least  eleven  semester  hours  in  education.    This 
should  include  special  study  of  the  subject  matter  and  pedagogy  of 
the  subject  to  be  taught.    Such  requirements  shall  not  be  construed 
as  retroactive.    (For  the  succeeding  year  the  Board  will  interpret 
courses  in  education  as  the  same  courses  are  interpreted  by  the 
colleges  or  universities  offering  them.) 

C.  If  a  teacher,  new  to  a  given  high  school,  does  not  fully  meet 
the  requirement  of  the  above  standards  but,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
inspector,  possesses  the  equivalent  of  the  training  prescribed,  the 
inspector  shall  submit,  to  the  Board  of  Inspectors,  a  statement 
concerning  the  training,  experience,  and  teaching  efficiency  of  the 
said  teacher,  together  with  his  recommendation.    The  Board  shall, 
on  each  case  presented,  make  a  decision.2 

1  Charles  Hughes  Johnston,  "  Progress  of  Teacher  Training."    Report 
of  the  Commissioner  of  Education,  1913,  Vol.  I,  chap,  xxiv,  p.  520. 

2  Proceedings  of  the  Twenty-first  Annual  Meeting  of  the  North  Central 
Association  of  Colleges  and  Secondary  Schools,  1916,  p.  94. 


PROFESSIONAL  TRAINING  OF  TEACHERS     317 

THE  CALIFORNIA  REQUIREMENTS  THE  MOST  ADVANCED 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  qualifications  required  by  the  State  Board  of  Edu- 
cation in  California  are  the  highest  required  in  any  state. 
They  are  as  follows : 

REQUIREMENTS 

High  school  certificates  may  be  issued  by  county  and  city  and 
county  boards  of  education  under  the  provisions  of  section  1519, 
subdivision  5  (</);  section  1775,  subdivision  i  (<:),  and  section  1792 
of  the  Political  Code  of  California,  to  candidates  who  meet  all  of 
the  following  requirements,  to  wit : 

(1)  Requirement  of  Bachelor's  degree.    Each  candidate  shall  have 
received  a  Bachelor's  degree  from  a  standard  college  requiring  not 
less  than  eight  years  of  high  school  and  college  training. 

(2)  Requirement  of  one  year  of  graduate  study.    Each  candi- 
date shall  submit  evidence  that  in  addition  to  the  academic  and 
professional  courses  required  for  the   Bachelor's  degree,  he  has 
completed  at  least  one  year  of  graduate  study,  doing  full  regular 
work,   though  not  necessarily   a  candidate   for  a  degree,  in   an 
approved  graduate  school  as  hereinafter  defined.     Such  graduate 
study  shall  include  at  least  one  full  year  course  of  advanced  or 
graduate  work  in  at  least  one  of  the  subjects  in  which  candidate 
expects  to  be  recommended  for  certification. 

(3)  Requirement  of  fifteen    units  of  u>ork  in  education.    Ivich 
candidate   shall   also   submit    evidence   that   he  has  completed  in 
undergraduate  or  graduate  standing,  or  the  two  combined,  not  less 
than  fifteen  units  (semester  hours)  of  work,  in  courses  listed  in  the 
department  of  education  in  the  institution  in  which  tin-  graduate 
work   is  completed,  or  courses  in  other   departments  of   that  or 
other    institutions   accepted   as   preparation    for   teaching   by    the 
department  of  education.    These  fifteen  units  of  work  shall  include 
the  several  courses  in  education  hereinafter  prcscrilx-d. 

Required  work  in  education.  The  required  fifteen  units  of  work 
in  the  department  of  education  shall  include  the  following  courses : 


31 8     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

(a)  A  course  in  school  and  class-room  management,  or  equiva- 
lent work  —  a  minimum  of  one  unit. 

(If)  Work  in  actual  practice  of  teaching,  with  conferences  — 
a  minimum  of  four  units. 

(f)  A  teacher's  course  in  at  least  one  subject  in  which  the  can- 
didate expects  to  be  recommended  for  certification,  if  such  course 
be  given  in  the  institution  and  be  accepted  by  or  listed  under  the 
work  in  education  —  a  maximum  of  three  units  for  all  such  courses. 

(</)  A  course  in  secondary  education,  presenting  particularly  the 
purpose  and  attainable  goals  of  high  school  work — a  minimum  of 
two  units. 

(e)  Such  other  courses  relating  to  the  theory,  function  and 
administration  of  public  education,  as  are  needed  to  complete  the 
required  fifteen  units. 

Practice  teaching.  The  work  in  practice  teaching  shall  be  done 
under  the  general  supervision  of  the  department  of  education  of 
the  institution  in  which  the  year  of  graduate  work  is  taken,  and 
may  be  done  in  schools  of  elementary,  intermediate  or  secondary 
grade,  though  preferably  in  secondary  school  work  of  the  kind 
.the  candidate  is  preparing  to  teach,  and  under  the  direction  of 
competent  instructors  in  such  work.  The  work  in  practice  teach- 
ing may  also  be  done  in  connection  with  the  training  school  of 
any  California  state  normal  school. 

Teachers1  courses.  Each  teacher's  course  shall  be  a  bona  fide 
teacher's  course  and  shall  be  made  as  concrete  and  practicable 
as  possible,  and  shall  have  for  its  purpose  the  preparation  of 
teachers  to  give  intelligent  instruction  in  the  subject  in  the  high 
schools  of  this  State.1 


CONTINUATION  TRAINING  OF  SCHOOL  OFFICERS 

The  requirements  which  have  been  discussed  up  to  this 
point  have  to  do  with  admission  to  the  teaching  profession. 
Beyond  that  point  there  is  nothing  that  can  be  described  as 
sufficiently  common  to  be  regarded  as  typical.  There  are 

1  "  Revised  Rules  governing  High-School  Certification,"  pp.  3-5.  Bulle- 
tin No.  j,  California  State  Board  of  Education,  1915. 


319 

voluntary  and  compulsory  gatherings  of  every  kind  and 
variety  intended  to  keep  teachers  intellectually  alert  and 
to  inform  them  of  progress  in  educational  matters.  There 
are  institutes,  so  called,  where  teachers  hear  lectures.  There 
are  extension  lectures,  provided  sometimes  by  boards  of 
education,  sometimes  by  teachers'  associations.  There  are 
meetings  of  teachers  called  by  the  superintendent  or  by  the 
supervisor  of  a  special  subject  or  of  a  special  grade. 

The  miscellaneous  activities  which  are  indicated  by  such 
a  list  as  the  above  all  recognize  the  necessity  of  continued 
study  on  the  part  of  teachers  in  service,  and  many  boards 
of  education  are  requiring  study  in  addition  to  success  in 
teaching  as  an  essential  prerequisite  to  promotion  or  to 
increases  in  salary. 

The  most  significant  movement  which  has  ever  been  wit- 
nessed in  the  training  of  teachers  in  service  is  the  summer- 
school  movement.  All  the  leading  institutions  of  learning 
in  the  country  are  filled  during  the  long  summer  vacation 
with  teachers  who  are  pursuing  courses  in  education  or  in 
the  various  subjects  which  they  teach. 

SPECIALIZED  TRAINING  FOR  ADMINISTRATION 

Two  phases  of  continuation  study  on  the  part  of  teachers 
deserve  special  discussion.  First,  the  form  of  promotion 
which  carries  a  teacher  into  school  administration,  that  is, 
into  a  principalship  or  superintendency,  is  being  hedged 
about  with  very  definite  demands  for  advanced  study  on  the 
part  of  candidates.  This  advanced  study  must  take  the  form 
of  readings  or  courses  on  administrative  problems.  Such 
problems  have  been  exemplified  in  earlier  chapters  which 
have  dealt  with  costs,  promotions,  and  the  like.  It  can  be 
safely  asserted  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  a  special 
preparation  will  be  required  for  entrance  on  administrative 
positions. 


320     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION 

Second,  the  study  of  school  problems  by  teachers  in 
service  has  contributed  powerfully  to  the  creation  of  bodies 
of  organized  knowledge  bearing  directly  on  school  matters. 
When  education  courses  were  designed  chiefly  for  candi- 
dates for  teaching  positions,  these  courses  survived  even  if 
they  had  no  close  relation  to  school  work.  To-day  the  situa- 
ation  is  entirely  different  in  character.  Teachers  in  service 
come  to  the  study  of  education  with  urgent  problems  to  be 
solved.  The  abstract  statements  of  the  older  courses  will 
not  satisfy  such  students.  The  impulses  toward  the  devel- 
opment of  scientific  information  about  schools  which  arise 
out  of  a  demand  for  efficiency  and  economy  are  powerfully 
reenforced  by  the  demand  within  the  teaching  profession 
itself  for  definite  and  constructive  studies  of  school  problems. 

EXERCISES  AND  READINGS 

The  training  of  teachers  is  so  closely  related  to  state  legislation 
that  this  chapter  suggests  the  possibility  of  introducing  the  student 
to  the  methods  of  looking  up  state  laws.  How  does  one  go  about 
finding  school  laws  ?  Why  is  education  a  matter  of  state  legislation 
rather  than  a  matter  of  national  legislation  ?  What  are  some  of  the 
striking  differences  between  the  educational  laws  of  different  states  ? 

Second,  since  the  economic  conditions  which  control  teachers' 
salaries  are  of  importance  in  determining  how  much  training 
teachers  shall  be  required  to  secure,  the  question  of  salaries  is 
an  important  one.  This  matter  may  be  looked  up  in  the  two 
bulletins  referred  to  below. 

COFFMAN,  L.   D.    Social    Composition  of   the    Teaching   Population. 

Teachers  College  Publications,  1911. 
The  Tangible  Rewards  of  Teaching.    Bulletin  No.  s6,  United  States 

Bureau  of  Education,  1914. 
A  Comparative  Study  of  the  Salaries  of  Teachers  and  School  Officers. 

Bulletin  Aro.jf,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education,  1915. 


APPENDIX 

CLASSROOM  OBSERVATION 

In  connection  with  the  study  of  the  foregoing  chapters  and  col- 
lateral readings  it  is  desirable  that  students  visit  classrooms  and 
make  systematic  observations  of  the  work  there  under  way.  In 
order  that  such  observations  may  be  productive  it  is  necessary  that 
the  student  have  definite  ends  in  view,  otherwise  observation  will 
be  scattered  over  many  phases  of  that  which  is  seen.  The  ques- 
tions below  are  intended  to  furnish  guidance. 

It  is  recommended  that  each  student  in  the  course  be  required 
to  spend  at  least  three  hundred  minutes  in  observation  and  that 
he  or  she  prepare  a  written  report. 

GENERAL  DIRECTIONS 

Before  going  to  the  classes  for  observation  determine  which  of  the 
topics  outlined  below  you  are  going  to  make  the  subject  of  special 
study.  It  will  be  advantageous  for  you  to  learn  the  questions. 

Go  prepared  to  take  notes.  Confine  your  attention  after  the 
first  general  observations  outlined  below  to  the  particular  topic  on 
which  you  are  to  report.  Take  down  facts  and  definite  individual 
observations.  You  are  at  liberty  to  talk  with  teachers  if  you  can 
do  so  without  imposing  on  them,  but  your  report  is  not  to  be  based 
on  what  they  say  but  on  what  you  see.  Do  not  quote  from  books 
on  the  subject  of  your  study. 

Prepare  a  report  of  not  less  than  two  thousand  words. 

GENERAL  QUESTION'S  TO  HE  ANSWERED  IN"  EACH   REPORT 

1.  In  what  school  or  schools  did  you  make  vmir  observations? 

2.  How  many  visits  did  you  make,  and  hmv  long  was  each  ? 
(Give  dates  and   minutes.) 

3.  What  was  the  grade  of  the  class,  and  what  was  the  subject  of 
instruction  ? 


322     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

4.  Report  on  the  physical  conditions  of  each  room.  What  was 
the  condition  of  the  temperature,  of  the  lighting,  of  the  ventilation  ? 
What  kind  of  furniture  was  used  ?  Did  you  see  signs  of  fatigue 
on  the  part  of  teacher  or  pupils  ? 

After  noting  these  general  external  conditions,  turn  your  atten- 
tion to  one  of  the  problems  outlined  below  and  prepare  your  report 
with  reference  to  that  single  topic. 

I.   GRADING 

Attend  a  class  several  times  until  you  come  to  know  something 
of  each  individual  member ;  then  form  a  judgment  as  to  the  desira- 
bility of  holding  the  group  together.  Suggest  changes  such  as  the 
putting  forward  or  putting  back  of  certain  individuals. 

1.  Are  the  students  alike  in  their  physical  development,  or  are 
some  oversized  ? 

2.  Are  the  mental  differences  parallel  with  the  physical  ? 

3.  Do    you    observe   symptoms   showing    that  some    children 
frequently  do  not  understand  the  class  work  and  therefore  are 
to  be  regarded  as  below  the  grade  ? 

4.  Do  you  see  evidences  that  children  are  not  fully  occupied 
because  the  work  is  too  easy  for  them  ? 

5.  Children  differ  in  their  willingness  and  ability  to  take  part  in 
class  work.  How  far  should  this  be  considered  in  grouping  children  ? 

6.  How  far  does  the  grouping  of  students  in  a  class  help  or 
hinder  the  development  of  an  individual  ?    Give  definite  cases. 

7.  Should  the  class  be  changed  in  size  to  provide  for  the  best 
teaching  ? 

8.  In  certain  schools  the  effort  is  now  being  made  to  organize 
more  individual  instruction.    What  do  your  observations  lead  you 
to  conclude  about  the  desirability  of  such  a  plan  ? 

II.    METHODS  OF  DISCIPLINE* 

For  observations  under  this  section  visit  a  number  of  different 
classes  and  note  the  general  restlessness  or  quiet  of  the  groups. 
Note  in  detail  how  the  "order"  is  maintained,  and  try  to  determine 
(i)  what  is  the  teacher's  notion  of  order  in  each  case,  and  (2)  what 
devices  he  employs  in  securing  what  he  wants. 


APPENDIX  323 

1.  Are  there  formal  rules?    For  example,  must  the  pupils  sit  in 
a  certain  way  ?    Must  they  ask  questions  in  a  certain  way  ? 

2.  Does  the  teacher  talk  about  order? 

3.  Does  he  have  other  devices  that  are  evident,  such  as  pausing 
and  looking  at  some  member  of  the  class  ? 

4.  Does  he  inflict  penalties  ? 

5.  Does  he  have  devices  that  are  less  obvious,  such  as  varying 
the  character  of  the  work  or  calling  on  a  member  of  the  class  who 
is  disorderly  ? 

6.  What  is  the  relation  of  order  to  the  subject  of  instruction  ? 

7.  Does  the  teacher  neglect  disorder  which  you  would  correct? 

8.  Of  all  the  cases  which  you  observed,  which  do  you  regard  as 
the  best  kind  of  order  ? 

III.    PREPARATION  ON  THE  PART  OF  THE  TEACHER 

Visit  several  different  teachers  and  contrast  their  methods.  It 
may  be  advantageous  after  a  first  visit  to  go  back  to  observe  again 
teachers  who  are  radically  different. 

1.  Distinguish  between  a  teacher's  general  preparation  or  broad 
knowledge  of  a  subject  and  his  special  preparation  for  a  particular 
class  exercise.    What  evidence  is  there  that  the  teacher  prepared 
for  this  particular  exercise  ? 

2.  Does  the  teacher  seem  to  have  in  mind  a  fixed  order  in  which 
the  lesson  is  to  proceed  ? 

3.  What  is  the  relation  of  economy  of  the  time  and  energy  of 
the  class  to  the  teacher's  preparation  ? 

4.  Mas  the  teacher  anything  to  contribute  outside  of  the  text- 
book material  ? 

5.  Does  the  teacher  know  how  to  fit  the  work  to  the  class  period 
so  as  to  make  a  complete  exercise  ? 

6.  Is  there  evidence  that  the  teacher  has  made  specific  prepara- 
tion for  the  next  exercise  ? 

IV.    PREPARATION  ON  TIIF.   PART  OF   Pt'1'II.S 

One  of  the  best  ways  to  get  material  f<fr  this  section  is  to  go 
first  to  the  high-schfx>l  study  nxmi  or  to  the  general  library  and 
take  note  of  the  way  in  which  people  study.  The  kind  of  question 


324     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

which  should  be  raised  in  these  observations  of  study  periods  is 
illustrated  in  V  (.#)  below.  After  making  these  preliminary  obser- 
vations go  to  some  recitations  and  see  if  there  are  evidences  in 
the  individual  recitations  of  the  way  in  which  the  work  of  preparing 
the  lesson  has  been  done.  The  purpose  of  this  particular  section  is 
to  discuss  the  methods  of  judging  preparation  from  the  recitation. 

1.  What  proportion  of  the  class  has  thought  about  the  lesson 
as  well  as  learned  what  is  in  the  book  ? 

2.  When  a  student  fails  try  to  determine  whether  his  failure  is 
due  to  lack  of  study  or  to  bad  methods  of  study.    For  example, 
if  a  student  has  learned  his  lesson  by  heart,  and  forgets,  he  is  very 
different  from  the  student  who  has  not  tried  either  to  understand 
or  to  learn  by  heart. 

3.  How  far  is  the  recitation  an  examination,  and  how  far  does 
it  teach  students  to  think  ?   What  is  the  effect  of  the  teacher's 
method  on  the  future  study  of  the  pupil  ? 

4.  How  far  do   students  show  initiative  in  carrying  forward 
the  work  ? 

5.  How  many  questions  do  they  ask  ? 

6.  Girls  generally  get  better  marks  than  boys  for  their  class  work. 
Why  is  this  ?    Do  boys  contribute  anything  that  girls  do  not  ? 

7.  Is  there  any  difference  in  intellectual  maturity  exhibited  by 
different  members  of  the  class  ? 

V  (A).   ATTENTION  DURING  RECITATION 

This  section  will  be  of  special  interest  to  those  who  wish  to 
observe  in  the  lower  grades.  Productive  observations  can  be  made, 
however,  in  every  grade.  The  chief  business  of  the  school  is  to 
train  in  concentration.  Observe  individual  pupils  closely. 

1.  How  long  does  a  child  keep  his  attention  fixed  on  one  thing? 

2 .  What  distractions  does  a  schoolroom  present  ? 

3.  What  concession  does  the  teacher  make  when  pupils  do  not 
keep  up  concentration  ?    For  example,  does  he  repeat  questions  ? 

4.  What  positive  devices  are  adopted  to  keep  up  attention  ? 

5.  What  are  the  physical  symptoms  of  attention  and  its  absence? 

6.  What  individual  differences  are  to  be  noted  ? 

7.  Do  you  note  differences  in  attention  at  different  times  in  the 
day  or  at  different  periods  of  the  recitation  ? 


APPENDIX  325 

V  (B).   ATTENTION  DURING  PERIODS  OF  STUDY 

For  this  section  go  to  the  study  room  or  to  some  class  that  is 
engaged  in  individual  work,  as,  for  example,  the  laboratory. 

1.  Note  the  way  in  which  a  student  goes  about  his  work.    Is 
he  ready  to  begin  at  once,  or  does  he  have  to  get  matters  together 
deliberately  after  he  sits  down  ? 

2.  Note  whether  he  reads  continuously  from  the  book  which  he 
is  studying. 

3.  Pay  attention  to  the  sort  of  thing  that  the  student  does  when 
he  looks  away  from  the  book.  Does  he  turn  his  attention  to  other  ob- 
jects, or  is  he  trying  to  think  about  the  book  itself  ?  In  general,  what 
are  the  distractions  that  seem  to  take  his  attention  from  the  work  ? 
When  he  comes  back  to  his  book,  where  does  he  take  up  the  work  ? 

4.  Is  his  rate  of  work  evidently  slow  or  rapid  ?    This  can  be 
judged  by  watching  him  long  enough  to  see  how  much  time  he 
spends  in  reading  a  given  page. 

5.  Note,  if  you  can,  the  different  ways  in  which  students  study 
different  subjects.    For  example,  is  their  work  in  history  different 
from  their  work  in  mathematics  ?    If  so,  which  one  seems  to  you 
to  secure  the  highest  degree  of  attention  ?    Is  the  writing  of  notes 
apparently  of  value  in  keeping  them  at  work  ? 

VI.   QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS 

A  comparison  of  different  teachers  and  of  different  subjects  of 
instruction  will  bring  out  most  clearly  the  distinctions  here  aimed  at. 

1.  What  part  of  the  recitation  is  consumed  in  asking  questions? 

2.  Are  the  questions  such  as  to  require  answers  of  more  than 
a  single  sentence  ? 

3.  Are  the  questions  based  directly  on  the  text  ? 

4.  What  is  the  mode  of  assigning  the  question  to  members  of 
the  class  for  answer  ? 

5.  Give  examples  of   good  questions   with   reasons  for   your 
selection. 

6.  Contrast  different  subjects  of  instruction  with  reference  to 
the  questions  which  they  permit. 

7.  Give  examples  of  questions  which  seem  to  you  t(x>  general 
or  otherwise  vague. 


326     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 

VII.    MOTOR  PROCESSES 

The  gymnasium,  the  sewing  class,  the  cooking  class,  and  the 
manual-training  shop  furnish  the  best  opportunities  for  observa- 
tions on  this  topic.  Penmanship  classes  and  almost  any  lower- 
grade  exercise  will,  however,  serve. 

1.  What  are  the  characteristics  of  a  clumsy  movement  ? 

2.  Point  out  certain  instinctive  elements  of  behavior;  that  is, 
forms  of  movement  which  do  not  have  to  be  learned,  but  are 
natural.    Are  these  always  helpful  in  the  learning  process? 

3.  Note  the  prevalence  of  rhythm  in  many  forms  of  behavior. 
Is  the  rhythm  more  striking  where  the  behavior  is  natural  and 
instinctive  or  where  it  is  being  acquired  as  a  special  habit  of  skill  ? 

4.  Comment  on  the  educational  value  of  repeating  acts  which 
seem  to  have  reached  a  high  degree  of  perfection,  such  as  taking 
stitches  or  swinging  Indian  clubs. 

5.  Are  individual  differences  in  rate  and  grace  of  movement 
capable  of  elimination  through  class  training? 

6.  How  far  is  skill  dependent  on  knowledge  ? 

VIII.    RELATION  BETWEEN  SUBJECTS  TAUGHT 

For  purposes  of  this  section  follow  a  class  for  a  whole  forenoon. 
If  the  class  observed  is  one  of  the  lower  grades,  the  organization 
which  places  this  class  largely  in  the  hands  of  one  teacher  favors 
a  close  interrelation  of  subjects.  In  the  upper  grades  and  high 
school,  on  the  other  hand,  organization  makes  interrelating  difficult. 

1.  What  cases  did  you  observe  in  which  the  teacher  consciously 
tried  to  illuminate  one  subject  by  reference  to  another  ? 

2.  Did  the  pupils  ask  any  questions  or  make  remarks  which 
showed  that  they  were  thinking  about  other  school  topics  ? 

3.  Within  a  given  subject  there  is  sometimes  opportunity  to 
relate  topics  which  are  remote  from  each  other  in  the  textbook. 
Did  the  classes  visited  show  any  examples  of  such  relating  of  topics? 

4.  What  opportunities  for  interrelating  subjects  did  you  observe 
in  addition  to  those  taken  advantage  of  by  the  class  ? 

5.  Sometimes  the  contrast  produced  by  change  from  one  topic 
to  another  or  from  one  classroom  to  another  is  important  in  arous- 
ing or  depressing  a  class.    What  contrasts  did  you  observe  ? 


INDEX 


Academic  courses  in  high  schools,  7 
Academy,  American,  27 
Accounting,  school,  61 
Administration,  studies  of,  208 

training  for,  319 
Administrative  problems,  study  of, 

303 
Adolescence,  268 

early,  190 

later,  194 
Adults,  continuation  classes  for,  147 

and  the  curriculum,  200 
After-school  classes,  145 
Age  limits  of  compulsory  education, 

42 

Agricultural  high  schools,  134 
Alderman,  L.  K.,  144 
Algebra,  history  of,  115 
Allen,  I.  M.,  no,  238 
Allison,  Elizabeth  W.,  285 
American  Academy  of  Political  and 

Social  Science,  155 
American  schools,  14,  26 

of  1850,  33 
Ames,  E.  S.,  196 
Appendix,  321 
Arabic  numerals,  1 16 
Arithmetic,  1 17 

nonpromotions  in,  103 

studies  of,  210 
Associations  of  parents  and  teachers, 

152 

Athletics,  146 
Attendance,  35,  41 
Attention,  observation  of,  324 
Auditoriums,  school,  90 
Austin.  Texas,  38 
Authority  in  school  system,  66 
Ayres,  L.  P.,  5,  45,  82,  106,  202,  215, 

216,  288,  307 
Ay  res,  May,  82 

Baglcy,  W.  ('.,  204,  211,  251,  253 
Bailey,  W.  A  ,  264 


Batavia  system,  1 10 

Binet-Simon  tests,  172 

Board  of  education,  66,  67 

Bobbitt,  J.  F.,  iv,  56,  101,  126 

Boise,  Idaho,  104 

Books,  free,  60 

Boston,  Massachusetts,  95 

Boston  Latin  School,  27 

Boys,  special   commercial  training 

for,  177 

Breslich,  E.  K.,  235 
Bright  pupils,  174 
British   Royal  Commission  on  the 

Feeble-minded,  Report  of,  170 
Brooks,  Charles,  22 
Brown,  E.  E.,  31 
Bryant,  Louise  S.,  282 
Buildings,  school,  74,  78 
Bunker,  F.  F.,  22,  24,  31 
Bureau  of  Census,  51 
Bureau  of  Education,  62 
Burritt,  B.  B.,  200 
Business  administration  of  schools, 

68 

California  State  Board  of  Education, 

3'7 

Cameron,  1:.  II.,  iv 
Caste  and  schools,  17 
Centralization,  of  school  control,  64 

of  school  organization,  291 
Charters,  \V.  W.,  206.  241 
Chicago,  Illinois,  46,  50,  64 
( 'hild  labor,  40 
Childhood,  185 
City  Club  of  Chicago,  133 

'ivies,  i  }9 

Mark.  E..  62 

'lass,  organization  of.  96 

'lass  instruction.  110 

'lass  period,  25(1 

'lasses,  si/es  of  ami  costs,  58 
Classical  curriculum,  n  ) 
Classical  program,  1 2<) 


328     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 


Classroom  management,  242 
Classroom  observation,  321 
Clerks,  training  of,  177 
Cleveland,  102,  181,  217 
Clubs,  corn,  149 
Coffman,  L.  D.,  208,  320 
College    courses,    as    preparatory, 
207 

once  professional,  114 

for  teachers,  315 
Colonial  education,  122 
Colorado,  6 
Comenius,  300 

Commercial  Club  of  Chicago,  132 
Commercial  courses,  177 

in  high  schools,  132,  133 

in  private  schools,  132,  133 
Commissioner  of  Education,  25 

reports  of,  37,  38,  41,  48,  307 
Committee  of  Ten,  126 
Community,  conservatism  of,  2 

and  control  of  schools,  63 

lessons  in,  139 

studies  of,  292 
Community  centers,  150 
Comparative  method,  14 
Comparison,  method  of,  221,  304 
Compulsory  education,  30 
Compulsory  legislation,  37 
Concentration,  158 
Connecticut  school  law,  16 
Conservatism  in  community,  2 
Consolidation  of  schools,  92 
Contagion  in  schools,  283 
Continuation  classes,  147 
Continuation  training  of  teachers, 

3i8 

Cooperative  recitation,  240 
Corporation  schools,  135 
Correlation,  observation  of,  326 
Correspondence  schools,  153 
Costs,  and  class  instruction,  97 

and  efficiency,  52 

school,  46 

of  school  construction,  89 
Course  of  study,  changes  in,  2 
Courses  of  study,  and  costs,  56 

for  girls,  180 
Courtis,  S.  A.,  228,  295 
Cousin,  23 
Credits,  for  courses,  261 

for  home  activities,  142 
Cubberley,  E.  P.,  34,  37,  52,  62,  77 


Current  references  and  the  curricu- 
lum, 203 

Curricula  of  schools,  18 
Curriculum    (see    also    Course    of 
study),  113,  197 

conservatism  regarding,  2 

and  costs,  49,  56 

for  girls,  180 

grading  of  subjects  in,  99 

and  individual  differences,  170 

and  industry,  125 

principles  of,  156 

readjustments  in,  105 

revision  of,  132 

and  school  buildings,  90 

and  school  equipment,  88 

Deffenbaugh,  W.  S.,  255 
Democracy,  and   individual   differ- 
ences, 182 

and  school  management,  291 
Demonstrations  as  means  of  edu- 
cation, 150 

Denver  survey,  85,  107 
Department    of    Superintendence, 

70,  182 

Departmentalization  of  grades,  91 
Desks,  87,  88 
Detroit,  Michigan,  72 
Device,  229 
Dewey,  John,  13,  88 
Differentiated  curricula,  182 
Discipline,  157 

classroom,  242,  249 

impersonal,  252 

observation  of,  322 
District  control  of  schools,  64,  71 
Dressier,  F.  B.,  80 
Drill,  240 
Dual  school  system,  131 

Earhart,  L.  B.,  241 
Economy,  demand  for,  52 
Education,  of  common  people,  32 

according  to  nature,  158 

and  industry,  40 
Educational  psychology,  301 
Efficiency  and  costs,  52 
Efficiency  experts,  295 
Elementary-education  expenditures, 

47,  48,  55.  58 

Elimination  from  school,  121 
English  secondary  schools,  29 


INDEX 


329 


Entertainment,  150 
Errors  in  oral  reading,  225 
Euclid,  116 

European  schools,  14,  17 
Examinations,  240 

English,  29 

Exceptional  pupils,  174 
Excursions,  field,  239 
Exercises  and  readings,  12,  30,  45, 
62,  76,  95,  in,   125,  139,   154, 
168,  182,   195,  210,   228,   241, 
252,  265,  278,  287,  297,  306,  320 
Experimental  method,  8,  302 
Experiments  in  education,  302 
Extension  of  education,  141 
Eye  movements  in  reading,  9 

Failures,  and  classification  of  pupils, 
102 

in  high  school,  107 
Fairy  tales,  188 
Farrington,  F.  E.,  31,  140 
Fatigue,  256 

and  lighting,  85 

and  play,  269 
Feeble-rriindedness,  170 
Figures,  6,  8,  9,  18,  50,  59,  79,  80,  81, 
,         83,  84,  103,  133,  181,  218,  223, 

263 

Financial  support  of  schools,  36 
Fiscal  problem,  44 
Fiske,  John,  184,  306 
Fleming,  G.  L.,  57 
Flexner,  Abraham,  129,  153 
Fond  du  I-ic,  Wisconsin,  100 
Food  and  education,  281 
Foreign  languages,  teaching  of,  166 
Formal  training,  162 
Free  education,  28 
Freedom,  doctrine  of,  158 
Freeman,  F.  N.,  iv,  216,  302,  306 

Gallon,  Francis,  183 
Gardening,  school,  146,  239 
Gary  plan,  90,  100 
(iencral  courses,  138 
<icncr.il  education,  114,  127 
General  Education  Hoard,  149 
General  training,  162 
Geometry,  history  of,  115 
German  schools.  22,  2«» 
German  system  of  training  teachers, 
3'* 


Giles,  F.  M.,  236 

Girls,  education  of,  28,  175 

new  courses  for,  180 

special  training  of,  for  vocations, 
177 

trade  training  for,  136 
Grade  system,  96 
Grading  pupils,  261,  322 
Grading  systems,  100 
Grammar,  204 
Grammar  school,  27 
Grand  Rapids,  223 
Grand  Kapids  survey,  55 
Gray,  W.  S.,  iv,  226 
Greek  and  formal  discipline,  164 
Greeley,  Colorado,  141 
Greeley,  Horace,  280 
Groos,  K.,  278 
Gulick,  L.  II.,  288 
Gymnasium,  19,  25 

Hadley,  A.  T.,  164 
Hall,  G.  S.,  196,  306 
Handwriting,  21 5 
Harvard,  114,  199,  207,  262 
Health,  279 

Health  department,  283 
Heating,  86 
Heck,  W.  H.,  169 
Herbart,  301 
Hibbing,  Minnesota   59 
High  schools  (stf  </Ao  Secondary 
schools),  27 

agricultural,  134 

classification  of  pupils  in,  105 

commercial  courses  in,  132 

costs  of,  55 

curricula  of,  5 

failures  in  subjects  in,  107 

laboratory  methods  in,  233 
High-school  building.  Sj 
Higher  education.  44 
Higher  schools  and  the  curriculum, 

".1 

Historical  method,  14 
History  of  education,  iii,  300 
Holmes.  \V.  II.,  112 
Home,  education  in  the,  186 
Home  activities  anil  school  credit, 

142 

Home  credits,  143 
Home  feeding,  :So 
Hopkins  Grammar  School.  27 


330     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 


Household  arts,  179 
Hygiene,  85 
teaching  of,  285 

Idiots,  170 

Illinois,  6 

Illinois  State  Teachers  Association, 

222 

Imbeciles,  170 

Imitation  and  primary  grades,  187 

Immigrants,  training  of,  147 

Impersonal  discipline,  252 

Impersonal  standards,  219 

Indiana,  6 

Individual  differences,  160,  170 

and  instruction,  104 

from  training,  180 
Individual  instruction,  no 
Individualism,  194 

period  of,  189 

Industrial  continuation  classes,  147 
Industrial  demands  and  education, 

ii 
Industrial  education,  123,  131 

demand  for,  1 19 
Industry  and  education,  40 
Infancy,  184 
Instincts  and  play,  268 
Instruction,  in  classes,  no 

and  classification,  105 

and  costs,  49,  56 

and  grouping,  98 

in  health,  285 

in  play,  273 

state  supervision  of,  43 
Intelligence,  low  grades  of,  170 

tests  of,  172 
Interest,  158 
Intermediate  grades,  189 
Intermediate  school,  193 
Iowa,  6 
Irnerius,  113 

James,  William,  306 
Jessup,  W.  A.,  208 
Johnson,  G.  E.,  273,  277 
Johnston,  C.  H.,  316 
Jordan,  David  Starr,  232 
Junior  high  school,  121,  193 

Kansas,  6,  7 

Kansas  City,  Kansas,  264 

Kansas  City,  Missouri,  204 


Kilpatrick,  W.  H.,  160 
Kindergarten,  185 
Kirkpatrick,  E.  A.,  1 19,  196 
Knight,  H.  R.,  271 
Koos,  L.  V.,  126 

Laboratory  method,  232 

Laboratory  methods,  and  science  of 
education,  302 

Laboratory-class  period,  260 

Laggards.    See  Retardation 

Lancastrian  system,  35 

Land  grants,  35 

Language,  186 

Latin  school,  27 

Leavitt,  F.  M.,  137 

Lecture  method,  239 

Legal  requirements  for  secondary- 
school  teachers,  317 

Liggett  School,  295 

Lighting  in  school  buildings,  78,  85 

Locke,  John,  300 

Lowell,  A.  L.,  207 

Luncheons,  school,  280 

MacAndrew,  W.,  77 
McFarland,  E.  G.,  143 
McMurry,  C.  A.,  169,  241 
McMurry,  F.  M.,  163 
Madison,  Wisconsin,  274 
Maine,  99 
Malnutrition,  281 
Management  of  school  system,  67 
Manhattan  Trade  School,  136 
Mann,  Horace,  22,  36 
Marks,  245 

systems  of,  261 
Massachusetts,  22,  37 
Mathematics  in  high  school,  115 
Maturity  of  pupils,  166 
Maury,  Sarah  W.,  280 
Measurement  of  school  results,  73, 

212,  294 
Mechanical  aspects  of  school  work, 

227 

Meek,  C.  S.,  2 
Method,  229 

experiments  in,  239 
Methods,  courses  in,  iii,  300 

of  study,  235 
Meyer,  M.  F.,  263 
Michigan,  6,  22 
Miller,  Edith,  206 


INDEX 


331 


Minneapolis,  74,  1 19 
Minneapolis  survey,  1 1 
Minnesota,  6,  7 
Missouri,  6 

Mistakes  of  pupils,  study  of,  204 
Monahan,  A.  C.,  95 
Money,  training  in  use  of,  1 18 
Monroe,  Paul,  265 
Monroe,  \V.  S.,  31 
Montana,  6 
Montessori,  159 
Morehouse,  F.  M.,  253 
Morons,  171 

Motor  processes,  observation  of, 
325 

National  Association  of  Directors 
of  Educational  Research,  77 

National  life,  lessons  in,  139 

National  Playground  Association, 
278 

National  Society  for  the  Promotion 
of  Industrial  Education,  1 1,  293 

National  Society  for  the  Study  of 
Education,  126.  140,  211 

Natural  behavior,  267 

Natural  education,  158 
and  play,  268 

Nebraska,  6 

Neef,  Joseph,  231 

New  England,  27 

New  York  City.  50,  53 

Normal  schools,  3O.S 

Norsworthy,  N.,  241 

North  Central  Association  of  Col- 
leges and  Secondary  Schools, 
5,  126,  316 

North  Dakota,  6 

Object  teaching,  231 

Observation,  classroom,  321 

Ohio.  6,  7 

Oklahoma,  6 

One-room  school,  97 

Open-air  rooms.  2~<) 

Opinion  versus  measurement.  213 

Oral      instruction     in      European 

schools,  i  5 
Oral  reading,  9,  222 

Parents'  associations,  I  52 
Parker,  S.  ('..  iv.  31.  166.  241,  311 
Part-time  courses,  134 


Pathological  cases,  treatment  of,  in 

schools,  279 

Pathological  conditions,  258 
Period  of  class,  256 
Periodicity,  in  mental  development, 

184 

and  play,  267 
Perry,  Arthur  Cecil,  253 
Perry,  Clarence  Arthur,  150,  155 
Personal  standards,  219 
Pestalozzi,  231,  300 
Peterson,  E.  A.,  283 
Physical  conditions  of  classrooms, 

322 

Physical  education,  270 
Pierce,  J.  D.,  22 
Plato,  300 
Play,  266 
Population   and   educational  costs, 

48 

Portland  survey,  52 
Practical  applications  of  academic 

courses,  138 
Preparation,  of  pupils,  323 

of  teachers,  323 
Primary  grades,  187 
Principal,  school,  289 
Professional    courses,    preparation 

for,  207 

Professional  education,  113,  122 
Professional  training,  199 

of  teachers,  308 
Program,  daily.  254 
Promotion.  102.  104,  109 
Propaganda,  educational.  148 
Prussian  schools.  22 
Psychological  methods.  302 
Psychology,  iii,  301 
Public     Education    Association    of 

Chicago,  67 
Public     expenditures     and     school 

costs.  51 

Public  opinion  and  reading,  ift 
Punishments,  247 
Pupil's  point  of  view,  i 
Pupils,  grading  of.  97 

unruly.  251 
Puritans  and  play.  266 

Ouality  of  handwriting.  217 
(Question  ami  answer  method.  234 
Ourstions.  observation  of,  325 
(,>umtihan.  300 


332     THE  SCIENTIFIC  STUDY  OF  EDUCATION 


Rapeer,  L.  W.,  282 
Rate,  of  handwriting,  217 

of  oral  reading,  225 
Reading,  8,  188 

in  American  schools,  15 

individual  differences  in,  180 

nonpromotions  and,  103 

oral,  222 

rate  of,  180 

Reading  school,  colonial,  16,  123 
Readings,  exercises  and,  12,  30,  45, 
62,  76,  95,  in,  125,  139,  154, 
168,  182,  195,  210,  228,  241,  252, 
265,  278,  287,  297,  306,  320 
Recitation,  14 

attention  during,  324 

cooperative,  240 
Records,  and  scientific  studies,  304 

and  standardization,  222 
Recreation,  269 
Religious  teaching,  29 
Report  on  classroom  observations, 

321 

Report  lesson,  239 
Retardation,  4,  302 
Reviews  in  seventh  and  eighth 

grades,  193 
Rewards,  247 
Rice,  J.  M.,  215 
Roman,  F.  W.,  140 
Roman  numerals  and  multiplication, 

116 

Rousseau,  Jean  Jacques,  13,  158,  300 
Routine,  organization  of,  245 
Rudimentary  curriculum,  25 
Rugg,  H.  O.,  iv,  55,  62,  211,  307 
Rural  school  buildings,  80 

Salaries,  teachers',  60 

Sanitation  and  school  buildings,  78 

Scales,  215,  294 

Schmidt,  W.  A.,  10 

School  credits  for  home  activities,  142 

School  day,  length  of,  254 

School  discipline,  249 

School  finance,  89 

School  program  and  play,  276 

School  Report  of  1801,  20 

School-city,  250 

Science  of  education,  299 

definition  of,  305 

subdivisions  of,  304 

and  teachers,  320 


Scientific  methods,  14 

applied  to  marks,  262 

demand  for,  3 

for  revising  the  curriculum,  200 

and  standardization,  228 

of  studying  the  curriculum,  197 

and  supervision,  44,  72,  296 
Scientific  supervision,  289 
Secondary  schools    (see  also    High 
schools),  17,  192 

teachers  in,  311 
Secular  schools,  29 
Sense     experiences     and    primary 

education,  187 
Seventh   grade,   reorganization   of, 

182 

Shearman,  F.  W.,  24 
Sheldon,  231 
Shopwork,  240 
Shorey,  Paul,  130 
Silent  reading,  8 
"  Six-three-and-three  "  plan,  121 
Smith,  W.  H.,  95 

Social  arts,  period  of  learning,  188 
Social  consciousness,  190 
Social  control,  types  of,  244 
Social  Standards,  220 
South  Carolina,  41 
South  Dakota,  6,  7 
Space  study,  117 
Spaulding,  F.  E.,  105 
Special  classes,  105,  175 
Special  courses  for  defectives,  172 
Specialization,  194 
Specialized  education,  113,  127 
Speed  of  handwriting,  217 
Spelling  tests,  201 
Spencer,  Herbert,  13,  253,  306 
Springfield,  Illinois,  survey,  202 
Standardization  of  results,  294 
Standardizing  associations,  316 
Standards,  based  on  opinion,  213 

objective,  214 
State  control,  33 
State  and  school  finance,  54 
State  supervision  of  education,  42 
Statistical  studies,  301 
Stevens,  Bertha  M.,  177 
St.  Louis,  106,  223 
St.  Louis  survey,  55 
Strayer,  G.  D.,  95,  241 
Study,  attention  during,  325 
Study  lesson,  239 


INDEX 


333 


Subject-matter  versus  method,  230 
Summaries,  125,  167 
Superintendent  of  schools,  66,  69 
Supernormal  child,  174 
Supervised  study,  in,  235,  237 
Supervision,  42,  63 

of  courses,  210 

of  health,  278 

scientific,  289 
Supplies,  costs  of,  60 
Survey,  industrial,  1 1 

of  recreations,  270 
System,  the  school,  30 

Tables,  48,  51,  55,  57,  58,  107 

Tachau,  Lena  L.,  280 

Taunton,    Massachusetts,    school 

report.  20 

Taxation,  general,  for  schools,  36 
Teachers,  continuation  courses  for, 
3'8 

preparation  of,  323 

relation  of,  to  community,  63 

and  the  science  of  education,  320 

secondary-school,  31 1 

selection  and  management  of,  293 

training  of,  308 

Technical  courses  in  high  schools,  7 
Terman,  L.  M.,  95,  172 
Tests,  294 

of  adults,  20 1 

of  general  intelligence,  172 

of  methods,  240 

of  school  products,  72,  212 
Texas,  compulsory  education  in,  37, 
38 


Textbooks  in  American  schools,  14 
Thorndike,    E.   L.,    183,   216,    301, 

307 

Trade  education,  1 1 
Trade  schools,  135 
Trade  training  for  girls,  136 
Training  of  teachers,  308 
Transfer  of  training,  165 

Ungraded  class,  101 
Units,  high-school,  7 
University  of  Alexandria,  1 16 
University  of  Cincinnati,  134 
University  of  Missouri,  263 
Unruly  pupils,  251 

Vacation  classes,  145 
Ventilation,  86 
Vernacular,  18,  25 
Vocational  education,  122,  131 
Volksschulti  17,  18,  19,  25 
Vorschule,  19 

Ward,  I).  A.,  233 
Washington,  Hooker,  169 
Wealth    and    educational   expendi- 
tures, 53 

Wheaton,  II.  II.,  147 
Wider  use  of  school  plant,  141 
Wirt,  W?  A.,  90 
Wisconsin,  6 
Wood,  T.  I).,  288 
Woolman,  Mary  S.,  136 
Wyoming,  6 

Young,  Ella  Hagg,  2 


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